democracy

A Stop The Steal sign is posted inside of the U.S. Capitol after a pro-Trump mob broke into the building on Jan. 6, 2021. Alabama, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming all elected deniers in their secretary of state races in 2022. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Five election deniers who control state voting systems

BY: - February 20, 2023

Americans concerned about the health of democracy breathed a sigh of relief when a pack of election deniers in 2022 lost their attempts to control voting in key battleground states — making it unlikely that a rogue state election official could subvert the 2024 presidential election. Candidates for secretary of state who denied the result […]

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris seated at a table.

White House targets economic development in Central America to reduce migration

BY: - February 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — The White House Monday announced nearly $1 billion in investments to address economic causes of migration in several Central American countries, an effort being spurred by Vice President Kamala Harris.   Spread over several years, 10 private companies from Target to Nestlé are pledging $950 million to create economic development in Honduras, El Salvador […]

COMMENTARY
American civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) delivers his "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, Aug. 28, 1963. (Photo by Washington Bureau/Getty Images)

How the distortion of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s words enables more, not less, racial division

BY: - January 17, 2023

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is just the latest conservative lawmaker to misuse the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to judge a person on character and not race. In the protracted battle to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, Roy, a Republican, nominated a Black man, Byron Donalds, […]

President Joe Biden embraces Gladys Sicknick, the mother of late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, on Jan. 6, 2023, as she accepts a Presidential Citizens Medal on behalf of her late son during a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Biden awarded Presidential Citizens Medals to police officers who defended the Capitol and state officials who resisted pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden honors more than a dozen Americans for upholding democracy on Jan. 6

BY: - January 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — On the second anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden on Friday awarded citizen medals to 14 Americans who protected democracy and law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol. “Two years ago on Jan. 6 our democracy was attacked,” Biden said at the White House. “Our democracy held because […]

Congresswoman Liz Cheney speaks into a microphone while sitting on a chair on stage with Walton Family Foundation executive director Caryl Stern

Americans obligated to defend democracy, Rep. Liz Cheney says

BY: - December 20, 2022

Americans have an obligation to do everything they can to defend the Constitution and that includes educating themselves, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney told a sold-out crowd at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville Monday evening.  “We have an obligation to make sure that as Americans we understand how our institutions work, we understand […]

COMMENTARY
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks Nov. 30, 2022, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. (Screen grab from YouTube video)

Will Hutchinson’s Reagan-like stance persuade GOP voters?

BY: - December 6, 2022

As Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s term nears its end, he’s taking nearly every advantage to polish his presidential bona fides. Just last week, former President Donald Trump gave Hutchinson an excellent opportunity to remind his party, and the nation, that true leaders don’t take meetings with public racists or antisemites. In an appearance on CNN’s […]

Hillary Clinton in a blue blazer sitting in a gray chair speaking into a microphone while Angie Maxwell in a fuchsia top sits in a gray chair besides her

Democracy “absolutely” will survive, Hillary Clinton says in exchange at Crystal Bridges

BY: - November 30, 2022

Finding a place for trusted, accurate information is one of the biggest problems facing our democracy, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a sold-out crowd at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville Wednesday evening.  It’s “a dagger at the heart of democracy” and there’s no easy answer for how to solve […]

What’s at stake this Election Day – 7 essential reads

BY: - November 7, 2022

As Election Day closes in, uncertainty and concern about potential chaos — from violence at polling sites to candidates refusing to accept defeat — continue to rise. Problems that have historically plagued the U.S. electoral and political system – like voter intimidation – are cropping up ahead of the midterms. But so, too, are less […]

How claims about a federal abortion ban are roiling one state as the midterms near

BY: - October 25, 2022

WILMOT, New Hampshire — Voters in this swing state are among the relatively few Americans who will decide control of Congress during November’s midterm elections, shaping domestic and foreign policy for the next two years and delivering a verdict on Joe Biden’s presidency.  Granite Staters interviewed by States Newsroom, during a mid-October week trailing U.S. […]

COMMENTARY
On Oct. 19, 2022, an official with the Miami-Dade County Elections Department conducts a comprehensive examination of the voting equipment that will be used in the Nov. 8th general election. Elections, from campaigning to voting systems, are under great scrutiny this year. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Experts grade readiness of four big social media platforms to handle election misinformation

BY: , and - October 20, 2022

The 2016 U.S. election was a wake-up call about the dangers of political misinformation on social media. With two more election cycles rife with misinformation under their belts, social media companies have experience identifying and countering misinformation. However, the nature of the threat misinformation poses to society continues to shift in form and targets. The […]

COMMENTARY

Their election denier is your election denier

BY: - October 17, 2022

Some states are comparatively isolated from the most damaging influence of democracy haters. California, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado — they are likely to avoid the misfortune of election deniers in high office in the near future, or they operate with voting laws meant to expand, rather than restrict, voter access. But while such states act […]

On Democracy Day, newsrooms draw attention to a crisis in the U.S. system of government

BY: - September 15, 2022

A recent poll found that 69 percent of both Democrats and Republicans think democracy in the United States is in danger of collapse.  Almost two years after Donald Trump falsely claimed that voter fraud cost him the election and inspired a web of supporters and “big lie” candidates to also believe the election was rigged, […]