Early voting boosts voting among minorities

Here is the real reason Republican led state legislatures have been trying to eliminate or limit early voting in their states. African Americans who typically vote democrat tend to use it more which drives up voter participation rates among that group. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states now offer voters some way to cast ballots early and avoid lining up at the polls on Election Day.

These options are popular. About one-third of voters made use of them in the 2012 election.

But so-called “convenience voting” remains controversial: In some states, various types of early balloting has been challenged on grounds that it opens the door to fraud, though there’s been little evidence that such fraud is taking place.

Supporters of early voting say partisan politics is what really drives the objections. Research shows early voting increases turnout by 2 percent to 4 percent. In some cases, it particularly boosts voting among minorities, a constituency that tends to vote Democrat.

A GOP consultant acknowledged as much after a federal judge struck down North Carolina’s effort to curtail some kinds of convenience voting on the basis that legislators had targeted measures that disproportionately aided African Americans.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2016/10/01/which-voters-show-up-when-states-allow-early-voting_partner/

Howard University: Only HBCU in national college/university rankings

Howard University, the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to be ranked on U.S. News & World Reports’ Best Colleges Ranking of National Universities, is #124 in the 2017 Edition rankings, which were released today. This represents an 11-point improvement from last year’s overall ranking of #135.

Howard was one of the two institutions that showed the greatest improvement in ranking nationally. The University was one of six universities that went up 10 points or more last year. The latest rankings represent a two-year increase of 21 points. (http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/howard-unive...)

Additionally, Howard University once again was ranked #2 on the Top 10 List of Best HBCUs. It was also ranked #82 among Best Colleges for Veterans and #83 among High School Counselor Rankings.

Howard University President Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick stated, “We are very pleased to see progress in the improvement of our ranking status. However, we realize that Howard University is often faced with specific challenges because of our mission. For instance, student retention is a challenge since most of our students who do not finish on time do so because of financial reasons and not because of academic reasons.

In the fall of 2016, Howard admitted a smaller class despite the fact that the University had a 21% increase in applications. This decision was made so that we could increase aid to our neediest students. In the long term, the University remains committed to academic rigor and providing an enhanced academic environment with high-quality teaching and research.”

The U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings take into account the following categories: Undergraduate Academic Reputation, Student Selectivity, Faculty Resources, Graduation and Retention Rates, Financial Resources, Alumni Giving, and Graduation Rate Performance. For more information about U.S. News & World Report’s ranking methodology, visit http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-criteria-....
Howard University remains one of the nation’s leadership universities. Howard is a comprehensive research university as well as a premier Historically Black University. One of its many great achievements is that it is able to successfully provide an excellent education to a diverse array of students who often come from very challenging economic, geographic and educational backgrounds. The value of Howard University’s contribution to the nation and the world is evident in the many stellar alumni of the institution who are in leadership roles throughout society.

Dr. Frederick noted that “It is important to note that this improvement in the rankings is the result of a lot of hard work by faculty and staff at the University. Please join me in extending a profound thank you to all faculty and staff for their invaluable contributions and commitment.”

Michelle Obama new campaign ad for Hillary Clinton

In this new campaign ad Michelle Obama explains why she believes in Hillary Clinton in a new 30 second campaign ad. Watch the ad below:

Pres. Obama campaign ad for Hillary Clinton

President Barack Obama tells voters he will feel personally insulted if they fail to mobilize in the presidential election, in a new ad released by Priorities USA, the super PAC that supports Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The commercial will begin airing Wednesday in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida and will run for at least a week. It's part of a $3 million previously announced ad buy.

We need to listen to millennials on how they feel about the presidential candidates

Anyone seriously following the presidential race knows that millennials are less than enthused about either candidate and are considering voting third party. Many of us have been dismissive of their feelings or simply accused them of not understanding what's at stake. Maybe what we should be doing is taking more time to understand and begin to attempt to address their issues before Election Day.