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  • Beyond language: How to enfranchise voters who don't speak English

    Orange County is a gold standard for supporting voters who aren’t fluent in English. All voting materials come in multiple languages and online databases and voting equipment are compatible with the multilingual system. The county works with community groups and hires native speakers to translate materials for increased accuracy. The county's bilingual workforce has steadily increased, with 30% of election workers now speaking the native language of the voters needing support. Due to the pandemic, language support was provided by video conference, an option that will continue to be available in the future.

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  • How a legacy of organizing among domestic workers helped turn Georgia blue

    The domestic worker advocacy group, Care in Action, fell short in their goal to elect Stacey Abrams in 2018, which motivated them to mobilize an effective GOTV campaign in 2020. Over 250 of their members canvassed local neighborhoods each day, knocking on over 1 million doors. Overall, the group contacted 5.85 million voters by phone, mail, or in person. The group prioritized making connections with people historically overlooked in the political process and the member organizers make meaningful connections as canvassers because they share similar challenges and concerns as the people whose homes they visit.

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  • 43 Cases, No Convictions: Prosecuting the Police Falters in New York

    In the more than five years since New York's governor ordered the attorney general to take charge of investigations and prosecutions when police kill unarmed people, only three police officers have been charged with crimes and none has been convicted. By taking control of such cases away from local prosecutors, officials hoped to instill greater trust in outcomes, because of the close ties local prosecutors have with local police. But the narrow scope of the rule establishing the special prosecutions unit, plus a host of other systemic and legal barriers, have meant that the outcomes have not changed.

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  • Monterey County kickstarts Youth Civic Engagement Program

    College students in Monterey Bay are pairing up with K-12 classrooms to teach students about civic engagement. The college students are then invited to give presentations during class time on topics ranging from the census to environmental justice. The program is a partnership between California State University - Monterey Bay and the Monterey County Office of Education, and also helps students fulfill a required community service credits.

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  • How new technology is helping to identify human rights abuses in the seafood industry

    A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.

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  • City governments in Kansas didn't launch the tech revolution. But they're embracing it

    City websites have embraced technology, allowing residents to pay bills, request permits, and attend council or commission meetings online. The shift, which was accelerated by the pandemic, also made the websites crucial information hubs, informing residents about everything from tax increases to street closings. The shift increased efficiency, for example decreasing in-person visits to City Hall, reporting problems like potholes any time, and officials are fielding fewer calls because information is readily accessible. Conducting business online also led to greater transparency into city business.

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  • How Food Changed the Course of the #EndSARS Protests in Nigeria

    During Nigerians' protests against the brutality of the Nigerian Police Force's Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a single tweet for donations to feed protesters grew into a movement that sustained the protests both physically and emotionally, while also giving supporters a way to connect to the protests. As the food network grew more elaborate, it inspired Project F.E.E.D: Lagos, a network of soup kitchens that extended beyond the government's brutal crackdown on the EndSARS protests. “In a country characterized by a lot of lack, food became the one thing that was abundant during these protests."

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  • The Creative Repurposing of Plywood From Boarded-up Stores

    In the months after businesses covered their storefronts with plywood as cities erupted in social-justice protests, environmental and other community groups in many cities organized recycling campaigns to reuse the plywood rather than see it end up in landfills. Twin Cities Plywood Rescue in Minnesota, the heart of the protests, collected 642 sheets of plywood and donated it to nonprofits for use in building construction. Other cities' collections have ended up as voter registration booths, outdoor-dining furniture, and animal enclosures.

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  • Boosting Voter Turnout: Seth Flaxman

    Democracy Works has a suite of programs that make it easier to vote. TurboVote helps its 7 million subscribers easily register to vote by taking them to their state's online registration site or by sending them the paperwork with envelopes pre-addressed to their county election office. The service also sends emails and texts to remind users to vote, as well as with other deadlines and their polling location. Their Voting Information Project provides data for all districts in the U.S. that groups, such as Google and Facebook, use to provide their users with their polling place location information.

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  • American Democracy Is Only 55 Years Old—And Hanging by a Thread

    The federal Voting Rights Act required states to ensure access to the polls for Black voters and created federal enforcement mechanisms. The law worked well in the Jim Crow South, but it wasn't built to deal with racial disenfranchisement more broadly. Congress and the courts have stripped important provisions from the bill over time, like those ensuring enforcement. A 2013 Supreme Court ruling dismissed the need for preemptive measures to protect Black voters, which created an opening for states to pass more restrictive voting laws that have created unfair burdens for Black, Latino, and Indigenous voters.

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