Election Day

Nov 8 2012

Death penalty upheld; Three Strikes amended

Despite all the mud that has been slung during the 2012 presidential election campaign, the allure of making history by helping re-elect Barack Obama was still powerful enough to bring many new voters like 19-year-old Los Angeles resident Kenya out to the polls Tuesday.

Kenya’s excitement was palpable as she stood in line at Cienega Elementary School in Los Angeles with her mom and older sister Myeisha.

Nov 7 2012

Provisional ballots need to be verified

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/Clerk today flagged five races or ballot measures as “close contests” based on the number of outstanding provisional and vote-by-mail ballots still to tally.

The Registrar’s Office workers are processing what officials expect will be a record number of provisional ballots. Those are the ones filled out at polling places by voters who were not on any voter rolls.

Nov 6 2012

About 46 percent of the 1.5 million vote-by-mail ballots had been returned

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—About 352,500 fewer voters cast ballots by 1 p.m. today compared to the same time on Election Day 2008.

Voter turnout in Los Angeles County was about 32 percent as of 1 p.m. today, behind the 43 percent turnout at the same time on Election Day 2008, according to the Registrar’s Office.

About 8.7 percent more Los Angeles County voters were registered to vote in this year’s election than in 2008—4,674,338 this year compared to 4,298,440 in 2008.

Nov 6 2012

Would create jobs

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Proposition 39 on today’s ballot would require multistate businesses to calculate their California income tax liability based on the percentage of their sales in California.

The initiative would generate $500 million in the 2012-2013 fiscal year and $1 billion in each fiscal year beginning in the 2013-2014 fiscal year, according to an estimate from the Legislative Analyst’s Office and Director of Finance Ana J. Matosantos.

Apr 5 2012

Suit contends it would hurt minorities

COLUMBIA, S.C.—The South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and individual Black college students have moved to join a lawsuit to prevent the implementation of South Carolina’s so-called discriminatory voting law. 

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.