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Elections, Civic Action and the Comeback
40 posts, newest first (page 2 of 2).
Clean Voter Rolls Are a Legal Duty, What the 1993 Motor Voter Law RequiresThe Motor Voter law is famous for easy registration, but Section 8 also orders states to remove voters who died or moved. Here is the duty and the process. The Case for Photo ID at the Polls, Answered Point by Point Against Its CriticsA photo ID rule is modest, was upheld in Crawford v. Marion County (2008) and rests on confidence and administration. The argument, the objection, the answer. Schoolhouse Rock Left Out the Rules Committee, and That Is Where Bills MoveThe cartoon bill skips the Rules Committee, suspension, cloture and reconciliation. Here is the real map of a bill's journey and where your call counts. None of the Funds, How Appropriations Riders Let Congress Say No to an AgencyA four-word phrase in a spending bill lets Congress stop an agency policy without repealing a law. Here is how riders work and where they stop. The Seven Member Rule and Other Oversight Tools a Congressional Minority KeepsA minority has no gavel and no subpoena, yet it keeps real oversight tools, from a 1928 statute to the recorded vote. Here is the toolkit and its limits. 218 Signatures, How a Discharge Petition Pries a Bill Loose From the SpeakerA discharge petition lets 218 House members force a stalled bill to the floor, and almost nobody uses it. Here is how it works and why it so rarely does. The Senate Hold Explained, How One Senator Can Slow a Nominee for MonthsA hold appears nowhere in the Constitution or Senate rules, yet one senator can stall a nominee for months. How it works and when it is principled. Why the President's Party Almost Always Loses the Midterm, and the ExceptionsThe president's party loses House seats in nearly every midterm. The arithmetic, three competing explanations, and what 1934, 1998 and 2002 had in common. Five Conservative Comebacks Side by Side, and the Ingredient They All SharedSet 1966, 1980, 1994, 2010 and 2014 in one table. The common thread is a clear argument against an overreaching majority, new candidates and volunteers. From Lost Senate Races to a Majority, What 2014 Learned From 2010 and 2012Republicans missed the Senate twice with the wind at their backs, then gained nine seats in 2014. The difference was candidates, primaries and message. When the House Read the Constitution Aloud, and the Rule That Stayed After 2011In January 2011 the House read the Constitution aloud and adopted a rule making every bill cite its constitutional authority. Here is what it does. Before the Contract, How Backbench Speeches to an Empty Chamber Built a MajorityYears before 1994, a few House Republicans used C-SPAN and late-night speeches in a near-empty chamber to argue over a forty-year majority's head. How the Kemp-Roth Tax Cut Went From a Backbench Bill to a Party's CreedThe Kemp-Roth bill lost in Congress in the late 1970s and became law in 1981. A minority can win by forcing votes on the right idea. The Ideas Came First, How Magazines and Think Tanks Built the 1980 LandslideReagan's 1980 win and a Republican Senate were the harvest of ideas planted long before the campaign: magazines, think tanks and ballot measures. Two Years After Goldwater, the 1966 Midterm That Put the Right Back in ItThe 1964 landslide was called the end of conservatism. In 1966 Republicans gained 47 House seats and a first-time candidate named Reagan took California. Had Enough? The 1946 Midterm That Ended Sixteen Years in the WildernessRepublicans won both chambers in 1946 on two words and the price of meat, then learned that winning an argument is not the same as keeping the majority.
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