{"id":15238,"date":"2015-05-14T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T20:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15238"},"modified":"2015-05-14T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T20:09:08","slug":"open-thread5142015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/14\/open-thread5142015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–5\/14\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m thoroughly swamped with tasks to complete, and needed to sleep late, after yesterday.  Pardon my brevity.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 3:35 (average 4:36).  To do it, click here<\/a>. How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Last Thursday (May 7) here at Daily Kos, I published the first public disclosure of a shocking collapse of the state’s voter registration system<\/a> here in North Carolina under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Our analysis of State Board of Elections data revealed that, beginning on or about the time of McCrory’s inauguration in January 2013, new voter registrations originating via the state’s public assistance (welfare) offices had suddenly and inexplicably collapsed by 66%.<\/p>\n

Federal law – specifically the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 – requires states to actively encourage and enable every patron of state offices, including public assistance and motor vehicles offices, to register to vote on the spot. The sudden meltdown in North Carolina’s effort to do so, and its continuing failure for more than two years, right up to today, has been responsible for the possible disenfranchisement of up to 40,000 poverty-level citizens (and still counting).<\/p>\n