Facing South has been covering the issue of Virginia registrars wrongfully rejecting the registrations of eligible students, especially at places like Radford University and Virginia Tech.Today the Brennan Center and other voting rights groups sent out the following alert:Radford, Virginia... More...

Earlier this month, 11 grassroots environmental groups in North Carolina sent a letter to Gov. Mike Easley, the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the director of the state Division of Air Quality asking them to... More...

NOTE: Today this became a top-rated diary at DailyKos and generated lots of good discussion. Check it out here.In a bold move this week, Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel (R) announced she was sending letters to 4,770 registered voters... More...

A quick note to say welcome to all you new Facing South readers!A lot of new traffic is coming here after our recent appearances on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now and To the Point, as well as this feature in Harpers'... More...

Rep. John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is calling on the Department of Justice to investigate bogus fliers distributed in the heavily African-American Hampton Roads which tell Democrats to vote on Wednesday, Nov. 5.As we reported on Monday,... More...

IMPORTANT UPDATE: At the same time that the press release from the NC NAACP was being put out this morning, the N.C. State Board of Elections held an emergency meeting in which it announced that North Carolina would be extending... More...

Facing South has reported on the controversy surrounding e-voting machines' technological glitches during this early voting period. Touch-screen electronic voting machines (such as those by Election Systems & Software iVotronic) have been observed in several states - including West Virginia,... More...

Thousands of low-income households have been unable to return to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted properties in New Orleans more than three years after Hurricane Katrina. Many low-income tenants continue to face bureaucratic nightmares and delays that... More...

Today's Southern Swing State Rankings (TM):SOUTHERN SWINGABILITY RANKINGS* as of 10/30/081 - North Carolina - Obama +1.52 - Florida - Obama +2.33 - Georgia - McCain +3.94 - Virginia - Obama +7.15 - West Virginia - McCain +9.4By comparison, here's... More...

As someone who's been reporting on the public health problems associated with poorly regulated coal combustion waste dumping for some time now, I'm heartened to see that this critical but often-overlooked issue has been getting more attention recently from major... More...

Richmond Mayor and ex-governor L. Douglas Wilder added his name to the growing chorus of those concerned about whether the key battleground state of Virginia is prepared for an expected deluge of voters on Election Day.Wilder announcement calling on the... More...

The following voting rights index appeared in the latest issue of our Facing South e-newsletter. If you're not already receiving that, please go to the form in the upper-righthand corner of this page and sign up.Number of voters now on... More...

For 16.5 million voters, the 2008 elections are already over. They live in one of the 31 states that have early voting.Eight Southern states have early voting -- Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.Two highlights... More...

Chris will be on the radio/TV program "Democracy Now!" at 8:30 a.m. EDT today talking about voting rights. To watch or listen live, click here.... More...

Following Hurricane Ike, we here at Facing South raised questions about the wisdom of building high-security biolabs handling some of the most dangerous pathogens known to man on a barrier island vulnerable to violent storms and flooding. Galveston Island, which... More...

I'll be on the syndicated radio program "To the Point" at 2:30 pm EST today to talk about voting rights issues in the South. "To the Point" is hosted by Warren Olney on KCRW, the largest NPR affiliate in Southern... More...

Jonah Goldman, director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was a guest yesterday on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. His organization is offering a national hotline at 1-866-OUR VOTE... More...

The latest Southern Swing State Watch (TM) rankings. The big picture: The rankings are the same, but all of the races are getting tighter.SOUTHERN SWINGABILITY RANKINGS* as of 10/29/081 - North Carolina - Obama +1.32 - Florida - Obama +2.63... More...

At Facing South, we've been reporting on one of the biggest election stories in 2008: the failure of states to adequately prepare for easily-anticipated high turnout, leading to enormously long lines and long waits that are discouraging many voters.Some of... More...

Big news in Florida today: Declaring a state of emergency at Florida polling stations, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has issued an executive order extending early voting hours. From The Miami Herald:Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7... More...

The St. Petersburg Times reports that more than 12,000 voters are now on Florida's "no match" list -- meaning their identities have not been verified and their votes could be uncounted on Election Day:The state released a new and larger... More...

An unusually high number of people are having their voter registration applications rejected in Harris County, Texas -- and experts say problematic reviewing of applications is to blame.That's the finding of an investigation by KHOU TV in Houston, which turned... More...

The Southern Poverty Law Center offers new information today on one of the two white supremacists who allegedly hatched a plot to assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama after a nationwide killing spree targeting African Americans. Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells,... More...

Today's daily Southern Swing State Watch (TM) report:North Carolina is still the closest toss-up race in the South for president -- and is growing tighter. Florida isn't far behind.SOUTHERN SWINGABILITY RANKINGS* as of 10/28/081 - North Carolina - Obama +1.72... More...

It's a classic voter-suppression strategy: send out misinformation to voters about the day of the election.The Virginian-Pilot is reporting that in the Hampton Roads area on the Virginia coast, official-looking fliers are being distributed that tell Democrats to vote on... More...

Federal agents have broken up a plot allegedly hatched by two neo-Nazi skinheads from Tennessee and Arkansas to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, the Associated Press reports. The assassination was reportedly to follow a killing spree in which... More...

Some pundits would like to see the Voting Rights Act done away with -- particularly its provisions mandating special oversight of most Southern states because of their history of racially motivated vote suppression. But a recent action taken under the... More...

A New York Times editorial today touches on an issue we've been covering at Facing South over the last few weeks: the undervote problem in North Carolina.As we reported, North Carolina has one of the highest rates of undervotes --... More...

We reported last week on the serious problem with long lines being reported at early voting sites across the South, even though election officials could have easily anticipated the huge turnout.Facing South also looked at Florida's 2005 law, pushed through... More...

With early voting underway across the country, there have been reports of glitches with one company's electronic voting machines in states across the South:* In Beaufort County, S.C., voters discovered that some races were missing on the final review screen... More...

Eight days to go ... what's happening in the Southern states in the presidential race? Here's the latest Facing South Southern Swingability Index (TM):SOUTHERN SWINGABILITY RANKINGS as of 10/27*1. North Carolina - Obama +22. Florida - Obama +2.23. Georgia -... More...

A big THANK YOU to all the Facing South readers who have kicked in money for our fall fundraising drive.We're aiming to raise $15,000 in the next three weeks to support our special coverage of voting rights and election issues... More...

The Gainesville Sun reports on how Florida's new "no-match" rule is affecting students at the University of Florida:Dozens of University of Florida students are among the 181 Alachua County residents whose voter registration was rejected by the state for not... More...

Harvest to Restore, directed by Michelle Benoit, co-produced by the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and Côte Blanche Productions, Inc.Harvest to Restore examines the new methods being used to try and save Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coastline and wetlands.From the... More...

The federal appeals court in Atlanta today stayed the execution of Troy Davis, who was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Monday evening.Facing South has reported on the contentious case of Troy Davis, the 39-year-old African-American man... More...

Ken Silverstein, Washington Editor for Harper's magazine, talked with me about how the 2008 presidential race is shaping up in the South.Visit here to read the piece.... More...

In a recent interview with a British newspaper, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour questioned the legality of thousands of new voter registrations in his state, raising the possibility that citizens might face Election Day challenges:Mr Barbour told the Financial Times that... More...

Will this be "The Year of the Black Voter?"From the beginning, the Obama campaign has said it would change the election map -- and a key piece to this strategy was registering and turning out record numbers of African-American voters,... More...

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel is reporting that a computer programming glitch is responsible for the high number of voter registration checks Georgia ran this year through the Social Security Administration.Georgia had sent 2 million voter registration verification requests... More...

A settlement reached this week will allow a minister to continue registering eligible voters currently incarcerated in Alabama's prisons.The Ordinary People's Society, with assistance from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit after the state Department of Corrections cancelled... More...

We're less than 12 days until the election. Which Southern states can still claim the coveted title of "battleground" in the presidential race?Five states in the South have made a legitimate claim to the swing state mantle at some point... More...

It's been one week since the start of early voting in North Carolina, a leading battleground state this year.Election watchdog group Democracy North Carolina has crunched the numbers and finds early voting has been a huge hit -- especially with... More...

A conflict has arisen in Florida between elections supervisors and the Secretary of State over how to deal with new voters whose registration hasn't been verified.The supervisors' attorney issued a memo earlier this week instructing them to ignore the orders... More...

One of the most bitter political fights that occurred in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath involved the fate of New Orleans' public housing developments.Though the developments suffered only relatively minor damage in the 2005 disaster, the federal and city government took advantage... More...

As the world witnessed during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, disasters have a way of revealing underlying social inequalities. That lesson is now being repeated in the wake of last month's disaster along the Gulf Coast.When it tore through Houston, Hurricane Ike... More...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is embroiled in a controversy again over dangerous formaldehyde levels in housing provided to disaster victims. The news comes just weeks after a federal judge refused to grant the agency immunity from lawsuits filed by... More...

Two weeks ago, we published an in-depth piece looking into Wachovia's $8 million loan bailing out the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee.Wachovia's last-minute loan to the GOP was notable for several reasons: One, it was made at a time when... More...

A new report released today by the Pew Center on the States' Electionline.org details how voters could face long lines, new technology and registration challenges in a number of states in the upcoming election.The report entitled "Election Preview 2008: What... More...

Everyone knew 2008 was going to be big. Since early spring, when voter registrations started zooming up during the hard-fought primaries, election officials across the South and country have known they needed to be ready for an election with potentially... More...

This marks the 10th year since the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were presented to the United Nations. Over the past decade, these 30 principles distilled from existing international human rights law have become the internationally accepted standard on how... More...

I'll be talking about early voting and voting rights with Warren Olney, host of the syndicated radio show "To the Point" today at 2:45 pm. "To the Point" is co-produced by KCRW, Southern California's leading NPR affiliate, and Public Radio... More...

Yesterday we reported on the undervote problem in North Carolina -- votes that are cast but don't register a vote for president. In 2004, N.C. had more than 92,000 votes that didn't count a presidential choice -- one of the... More...

As allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression lead headlines this week, some civil rights and election protection organizations are working to expose what they call "a new generation of online deceptive practices" designed to mislead and intimidate voters.Common Cause,... More...

One of the last major environmental initiatives of the Bush administration will bring further devastation to Appalachian coal mining communities.The U.S. Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining has recommended effectively repealing the Stream Buffer Zone rule, which restricts surface coal... More...

As expected, voter turnout was huge in Florida yesterday, the first day of early voting. Some numbers across the state:* Nearly 12,000 in Duvall County (Jacksonville)* Over 7,000 in Orange County, mostly in Orlando, boosted by a big Obama/Clinton rally.... More...

California is seeing a slew of gay couples rushing to get marriage licenses this month, a movement that is only expected to accelerate over the next three weeks. Some observers see it as a response to the possibility that the rights... More...

Appalachian residents and policymakers are divided over President Bush's recent expansion of Appalachia’s geographic boundaries. Bush signed a measure earlier this month that gives 10 additional counties in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia a cut of about $87 million in... More...

Yesterday, Barack Obama held a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Afterwards, Obama supporters streamed over to a nearby early voting center, where they were met by a throng of anti-Obama protesters, who heckled and harassed them as they went in... More...

The Government Accountability Office has found two of the five U.S. labs that conduct research on some of the world's deadliest germs come up short on security.Though the GAO report (pdf) released last week did not name the troubled Biosafety... More...

North Carolina is now one of the tightest states in the 2008 presidential election. Pollster.com shows Barack Obama with only a slight 2.2% edge over John McCain. Nate Silver's popular 538.com shows it even closer: By his analysis, Obama's lead... More...

Even as thousands of people set records in early voting this week, the Congressional Quarterly reports that election officials around the country are still bracing for huge voter turnout and the big spike in early voting may not be enough... More...

Thanks to early voting, hundreds of thousands of voters have already cast ballots in the 2008 elections. In the South, Florida and Texas kick off early voting today.Michael McDonald at George Mason University has a great run-down on how early... More...

In the wake of Hurricane Ike, the housing crisis has grown so severe in some parts of Texas that local officials are asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide the same kind of formaldehyde-emitting travel trailers that caused serious... More...

Since Hurricane Ike crashed into the Texas coast last month, residents of hard-hit areas have encountered problems finding a place to stay while the region recovers -- and government at all levels has failed to provide adequate help for the... More...

The much-hyped accusations of voter fraud by ACORN came to a head this week when John McCain suggested they threatened "the fabric of democracy."But in the South, a region with its unique share of battles over voting and democracy, few... More...

The Times-Picayune reports that through the six hours of presidential and vice presidential debates during the past month, New Orleans was mentioned only once. This one mention was made this past Wednesday night, in a quick reference by John McCain... More...

The Associated Press is reporting that the NAACP will have lawyers targeting 750 precincts around the country where there has been a history of voter discrimination on Nov. 4, with plans to address complaints about possible voter disenfranchisement wherever they... More...

A few voter protection call-to-action items from United for Peace and Justice:Protecting Election Integrity -- Making Sure Every Vote CountsWith the election less than a month away, now is the time to make sure that every vote is cast and... More...

Having trouble sorting out which of the rumors about voting you've heard are real and which are urban legends? Bob Hall at the election watchdog group Democracy North Carolina offers a list of 20 handy tips for NC voters: (NOTE:... More...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections is reporting that over 100,000 voters cast ballots yesterday, the first day of early voting in the state.In that one day, Democrats had the clear advantage:State Board of Elections data showed that 64... More...

This Nov. 4, voting machines will likely fail in one or more jurisdictions across the country, which is why it's so critical for states to prepare for potential problems in advance in order to prevent voter disenfranchisement. Unfortunately, a new... More...

CNN’s breaking news moment came last night when they turned Virginia blue on its color-coded map. Virginia hasn’t gone Democratic in a presidential race since 1964, but CNN has been reporting this week that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is... More...

Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton toured Galveston, Texas this week and promised to help the hurricane-battered island community recover. To that end, they have launched the Bush-Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund to raise private donations for the victims... More...

Facing South has reported on the catastrophic impact of the federally-sponsored Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO), a money-losing shipping lane that ultimately intensified Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge.This week Louisiana’s coastal czar moved to break an apparent deadlock with the Army Corps... More...

The Associated Press published a story earlier this week examining how the economic crisis might interfere with efforts to cap the greenhouse gases emissions that are disrupting the earth's climate.The first source quoted by the AP was a spokesperson for... More...

Last month, Facing South reported on the case of Troy Davis, the 39-year-old African-American man from Georgia, who was scheduled to be executed in September despite widespread concern Davis is an innocent man.Davis was granted a last-minute stay of execution... More...

President Bush's announcement that the government will spend $250 billion to buy shares in nine major banks -- in effect, partially nationalizing them -- has drawn a lot of hand-wringing among the nation's media and political class. A front-page story... More...

Before Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston Island on the Texas coast, about 60 homeless people spent their nights at the local Salvation Army building. But that building was extensively damaged in the storm and won't reopen for at least two months... More...

Three weeks from Election Day -- which Southern states are in play for the presidential election?Three leading pundit outifts, Cook Political Report, Atlantic Monthly and Karl Rove & Co., came out with new state rankings today, and all agree there... More...

Time reports that college students are facing numerous stumbling blocks in voting in this year’s election, explaining that:Ever presidential election finds college students wading through a swamp of murky laws and logistical hurdles to get into the polling booths. But... More...

by Jeff Winder, Guest ContributorChanging immigration enforcement policy has left federal authorities struggling to cope with rapidly rising numbers of detainees. A controversial partnership in Farmville, Va. proposes to address the crisis with a 1,040-bed, for-profit immigrant detention center.During 2008,... More...

Rep. John Lewis (D) of Georgia stepped into the controversy over states' use of Social Security Administration voter registration checks yesterday, calling improper use of the checks "harassment" that could disenfranchise voters.As Facing South reported yesterday, Georgia has been the... More...

Nate Silver at 538.com looks at the latest voter registration numbers in North Carolina, and sees two shifts in the electorate that benefits Democrats. First is party ID:Since the first of the year, Democrats have added about 250,000 voters to... More...

Free Speech Radio News is running a piece on failing Wachovia bank's $8 million loan to the National Republican Congressional Committee. You can listen to the news segment here.One note: The story text includes a slight error, saying that Wachovia... More...

The Times-Picayune reports that more than three years after Hurricane Katrina, nearly 6,500 privately owned, federally-subsidized apartments sit unrepaired in the state of Louisiana. Most -- about 4,000 -- are in the New Orleans area.In New Orleans, many of these... More...

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, shows that fewer working-age Americans are being covered under employer-sponsored health plans. In the briefing paper, The Erosion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, EPI explains that employer coverage for... More...

The debate over the use of Social Security matches by states to verify new voters is still roiling.As Facing South reported, last week the Social Security Administration issued a high-profile letter to six states -- including Alabama, Georgia and North... More...

Our in-depth report on Wachovia's curious $8 million bailout loan to the National Republican Congressional Committee -- while the bank is denying credit and loans to thousands of other regular customers -- is starting to make waves.Facing South got more... More...

America Betrayed, directed by Leslie Cardé, currently in limited U.S. theatrical releaseAcademy Award winning actor Richard Dreyfuss narrates America Betrayed, the feature documentary written, directed, and produced by filmmaker Leslie Cardé. This film places the spotlight front and center on... More...

Indigenous communities across areas of Louisiana hit hardest by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike still remain in dire need of services. In United Houma Nation Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux' latest dispatch, she recounts the continuing problems plaguing coastal tribal communities... More...

Public Policy Polling has an interesting new study out that bucks the media storyline about why Barack Obama is making gains in Southern states like Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.Obama has galvanized African-American and young voters. But what has put... More...

Before the elections, banking giant Wachovia was teetering on the brink of collapse and asking for government help. How did it manage an $8 million bailout to the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee? More...

According to observers, Greenville, S.C. today looks like a ghost town. The Associated Pres reports that when federal agents swooped into the local meat processing plant earlier this week, arresting 330 suspected illegal immigrants, six of them juveniles, they effectively... More...

USA Today reports that polling places in six battleground states, including many with large minority populations, could be overwhelmed on Nov. 4. That’s according to a new study released by The Advancement Project, a civil rights group based in Washington,... More...

More than 2 million Gulf Coast residents were evacuated from their homes as Hurricane Gustav barreled toward Louisiana and Texas. According to the US Human Rights Network, a coalition of more than 250 human rights groups, in the days following... More...

This week’s large-scale immigration raid at Columbia Farms, a chicken processing plant near Greenville, S.C, where more than 300 were arrested, is just the latest in a stepped-up federal enforcement effort that has resulted in the deportation of thousands of... More...

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic today notes a crucial development in the presidential campaign:The Obama campaign's top two field generals have decamped to Florida, a sign of its confidence that the state, with 27 electoral votes, is tilting toward the... More...

The McCain and Obama presidential campaigns continue to spend massively in the three Southern swing states, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.The Wisconsin Advertising Project reports that the two campaigns spent $28 million on TV ads over the last week --... More...

In the rush to help new voters register this year, it seems that the McCain and Obama campaigns, as well as at least one other group aimed at young voters -- Rock the Vote -- have been giving out the... More...

The Associated Press reports today that federal officials are concerned that "extraordinarily high levels" of voter identification checks have been submitted to the Social Security Administration in six states: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio.Four are battleground states... More...

When Hurricane Ike hit the U.S. Gulf Coast last month, it unleashed an environmental disaster, details of which are only now beginning to emerge. The ecological damage gives some indication of what the tropical storm-prone Southeast could face with the... More...

In the last week, Kay Hagan -- Democratic challenger to Sen. Elizabeth Dole for North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat -- has been hammered by critical robo-calls from two operations: Freedom's Watch, a non-profit founded by GOP operatives in 2007, and... More...

The Christian Science Monitor poses the question this week: could microloans work to revitalize the Gulf Coast in the same way they have worked for poor areas of Africa and Asia?Three years after Katrina, one-quarter of New Orleans small businesses... More...

The Birmingham News is reporting that less than a month shy of a historic election expected to bring record turnout, there still is confusion which over ex-felons can be excluded from voting in Alabama. State officials have given boards of... More...

Wall Street may be getting a bailout -- but not state unemployment relief funds, which according to Stateline.org are running dry across the country:Laid off from your job in Tennessee? Good luck getting unemployment checks right away. So many people... More...

A new poll by Public Policy Polling shows Obama pulling away with a larger lead in North Carolina, solidifying the state's battleground status.The latest PPP poll numbers:Barack Obama 50John McCain 44Bob Barr 2As far as I can tell, this is... More...

Facing South will be providing ongoing, in-depth coverage of important voting rights issues across the South this critical election year. Check back for more coverage and updates.Today is not only the vote registration cut-off date for states across the South... More...

Today is the last day for voter registration in nine Southern states -- AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, TN, TX and VA.If any of you may be wondering if last-minute registrations really make a difference, Nate Silver at 538.com... More...

Voter registrations are surging throughout the South as states approach their cut-off dates (for a complete list of voter registration dates in the South, see our previous post here).Registration in South Carolina ends tomorrow, October 4. Importantly, this also included... More...

The following Institute Index appeared in the latest Facing South email newsletter. If you don't receive Facing South via email already, sign up in the box in the upper right hand corner. It's free, and a great way to stay... More...

The nation's energy woes are worsening, with carbon piling up in the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, fuel prices soaring, and residents of some Southeast cities unable to find any gas at all due to post-hurricane refinery disruptions.At the same... More...

Blacksville #2 mine in Monongalia County, West Virginia shut down today after every union miner stayed home to protest Consol Energy mine owners who allowed the National Rifle Association to enter the worksite to shoot an anti-Obama video.According to news... More...

The Brennan Center has released an important new report on the issue voter purging [pdf]. Election officials regularly remove -- or "purge" -- voters' names from the rolls as they update and improve their lists. Between 2004 and 2006, 39... More...

UPDATE: Piece slightly updated 2:30 pm. Also, a version of this is now the #1 diary at DailyKos -- see the discussion there.Virginia has emerged as one of the tightest swing states in the 2008 presidential election. Every vote will... More...