Los Angeles voters just delivered a huge win for the defund the police movement

Roge Karma

November 04, 2020 |

Vox |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

By framing their police-reform proposal as an investment in community services rather than a bid to take money away from policing, the Re-Imagine L.A. County coalition of racial and criminal justice advocacy groups won voter approval for what could be the most significant realignment of public safety spending since the 2020 policing protests began. Los Angeles County voters approved Measure J, which mandates that the county allocate 10% of its $8.8 billion discretionary local budget to "direct community investment," and not to law enforcement. The Sheriff's Department accounts for $2 billion of that budget.

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How to Combat Disinformation Targeting Black Communities

Amy Yee

November 03, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Several groups are working to counter disinformation aimed at the Black community by spreading accurate information and elevating local voices as trusted messengers. Organizations have disseminated accurate information via social media, used hackathons and video game launches to get Black and other youth of color interested in voting, provided shareable content to progressive organizations, and created a guide to help people identify fake accounts and bots. Nonprofit First Draft also provides a two-week disinformation training course in English and Spanish with daily lessons sent by text.

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Take Me Out To The Ballot Box

Nathaniel Rakich

November 03, 2020 |

FiveThirtyEight |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The coronavirus made cramped or high-risk polling locations untenable so at least 39 sports arenas have opened up their facilities for voting. Their expansive size allows them to welcome large numbers of voters while maintaining social distancing protocols. Many are outdoors, which lowers the risk of transmitting the virus even further. Prompted by calls from athletes, arena owners’ site the summer’s racial-justice demonstrations as inspiration for supplying the spaces since voting is a key way to create definitive changes. Voters were thrilled to cast their ballots in a sports arena.

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Could Ranked Choice Voting Work in D.C.?

Will Warren

November 02, 2020 |

Washington City Paper |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

In ranked choice voting voters rank all candidates in order of preference so that if no candidate wins a majority, a second round of counting eliminates candidates with the fewest votes and allots voters’ second choices towards the top vote getters. The process repeats until a candidate wins a majority. Since candidates benefit from being a voter’s second choice, they have an incentive to reach out to and appeal to a broader range of voters. Maine and Takoma Park, DC are models of its effective, and DC is considering a broader implementation. Some local Virginia districts will use ranked choice in 2021.

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Here's how officials are keeping votes secure on Election Day

Guillermo Molero

November 02, 2020 |

The Daily Tar Heel |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, North Carolina

North Carolina takes a multipronged approach to election security. Unique serial numbers on mail-in ballots allow the voter to be removed from the system once they are processed. Hundreds of thousands of test ballots are run through voting machines and audited for accuracy. Polling sites are observed by bipartisan poll watchers and trained officials and voting machines are never connected to the internet. Paper receipts are securely stored in case of a recount or audit. Results are stored on encrypted data sticks and locked in high-security facilities operated by state and county boards of elections.

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Inside Democrats' efforts to fight election security threats

Eric Geller

November 02, 2020 |

Politico |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) built up its digital defenses, successfully protecting the 2018 midterm election from the cyber-hacking that occurred in 2016. The DNC now trains staff to spot cyber threats, conducts simulated phishing campaigns to test employees’ vigilance, and security staffers regularly meet with their House and Senate campaign counterparts to offer their security expertise. The DNC also requires protections, such as two-factor authentication, which requires a temporary code in addition to a user’s password and conducts regular “spot checks” of Democrats’ cybersecurity practices.

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With Talk2020, The Wall Street Journal turns an internal reporting tool into a reusable news product

Sarah Scire

November 02, 2020 |

Nieman Lab |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Talk2020 is a searchable database from the Wall Street Journal with thousands of transcripts from presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ campaign speeches, media appearances, debates, and more. Users can filter by issue, date, candidate, or keyword to find quotes and facts about a candidate’s record. It began as an internal tool to help reporters and editors working in the D.C. bureau frame and inform their own journalism, but focus groups showed that news consumers also wanted to be able to quickly locate quotes and facts for their own edification and to support fact-based debates with others.

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How can Georgia make it easier to vote?

Allison Salerno

November 01, 2020 |

Atlanta Journal-Constitution |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

Some locations, such as North Carolina and the extremely populous Harris County, Texas, have enacted solutions that make voting easier and take less time. In addition to early voting running up until election day, the North Carolina Board of Election issued an emergency order requiring one polling site per 20,000 registered voters. Harris County, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, expanded the early voting period and offers “drive-thru voting” at 10 locations using portable voting machines. The county also had over 100 locations that were open for 24 consecutive hours.

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'I'm not invisible': Kentucky millennials with felony records head to the polls for first time

Chloe Atkins

October 31, 2020 |

NBC News |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kentucky

More than 170,000 people with felony records in Kentucky won the right to vote in the 2020 election under an order by the governor. Although not as concrete as legislation, the governor's order at least temporarily rescinds the state's permanent voting ban for most people with felony convictions. The order pertains to people with non-violent offenses. Unlike some states' re-enfranchisement policies, Kentucky's does not require payment of outstanding fines or restitution. The policy is seen as a particular benefit to people of color and millennials.

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King County hospitals are making sure patients can vote

Hannah Weinberger

October 30, 2020 |

Crosscut |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Hospitals in King County launched programs to help inpatients register to vote and cast their ballot. Some adopted VotER, a program that sets up voter registration kiosks and QR codes that can be scanned for voting information. If inpatients don't have someone who can bring them their ballots, hospital staff can print them online. Since the state has universal mail-in voting with ballot boxes that anyone can drop ballots in, hospital staff also helped deliver ballots. With health care policy often on the ballot, helping patients vote is another way healthcare professionals care for their patients.

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