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Technology Works Behind the Scenes to Keep US Mail-in Voting Secure

Michelle Quinn

July 27, 2020 |

Voice of America (VOA) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

With many more people are voting by mail in the 2020 presidential election, technology is helping to make sure ballots are counted and that voters are informed. Although the system is not perfect, it does allow for voters to follow the progress of their ballot to see if there may have been a problem at some point during the process.

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Giving Police Departments Money to Buy Body Cameras Will Never End Brutality

Tyler Hicks

July 26, 2020 |

Truthout |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Milford, Delaware

Body-worn cameras gained popularity as a potential check on police brutality, but for them to fulfill that purpose, numerous changes in typical public policies are needed, starting with public access to videos and independent oversight of camera policies. Research is inconclusive about whether cameras have changed police conduct, but they have discouraged citizen complaints about police. Other changes that could improve the use of cameras as a police-reform tool include constraining officers' discretion to record and better automated review of reams of stored data.

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Baltimore's Violence Interrupters Confront Shootings, the Coronavirus, and Corrupt Cops

Brandon Soderberg Baynard Woods

July 26, 2020 |

The Intercept |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore’s Safe Streets program, which uses a public-health approach to stopping the spread of community gun violence, mediated more than 1,800 conflicts in 2019 and is credited with preventing homicides altogether in one neighborhood, despite the city’s overall violent year. Since the program’s launch in 2007, studies have shown it to be effective in its use of “credible messengers” whose street savvy can be deployed to “interrupt” retaliatory violence. But the Baltimore program also illustrates tensions between such community-based programs and the police, especially when the police are corrupt.

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Black Lives Matter Protests Rarely End in Violence – Especially in Appalachia

Chris Jones

July 23, 2020 |

100 Days in Appalachia |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, West Virginia

Thirty-six people protesting police violence and racism held the first civil rights march in Terra Alta. Met by counter-protesters with guns who were expecting out-of-town agitators, the groups engaged in peaceful and respectful dialogue rather than conflict. Each side expressed their viewpoints and shared the personal experiences that helped form those views. While they did not agree on many topics, they both felt that social media and mainstream media portrayals of the two groups fueled misinformation and ill will. Instead, both sides saw each other as human beings rather than stereotypes and caricatures.

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A national forewarning: Wisconsin's high absentee volume and ballot errors

Dee J. Hall Tom Scheck Geoff Hing

July 23, 2020 |

APM Reports |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

Wisconsin officials are using lessons from the failures of the April 2020 primary, where many mail-in ballots were rejected based on technicalities such as missing a witness signature or address, to make changes in the general election. Since the law doesn’t require officials to notify voters so they can fix the mistakes, they adapted a computer system to process absentee ballot applications so clerks have more time to focus on other voting related issues and they will use barcodes to track ballots. But issues such as missing signatures or addresses will still lead to rejected ballots without recourse.

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Wisconsin's April primary was a mess. Here are five changes officials hope will make the next election smoother.

Patricia McKnight

July 23, 2020 |

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

Wisconsin officials learned important lessons from the problematic primary election. Moving forward, an informational mailer is being sent to educate voters about absentee voting and an absentee ballot request form will be automatically sent to 2.7 million registered voters. Ballots will be tracked using an intelligent barcode and more ballots will be ready to be sent out ahead of time to meet increased demand. Voters will need to provide contact information on their ballots so that clerks can contact them in case of any errors and more polling places will open to reduce long lines and wait times.

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How Lightfoot and housing activists reached an uneasy détente in the battle for Woodlawn's future

Alex Nitkin

July 22, 2020 |

The TRiiBE |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

After tense negotiations and protests, the Coalition for a CBA (Community Benefits Agreement) and the mayor of Chicago agreed to an ordinance guaranteeing a percentage of affordable housing for tenants making below 50% of median income. The coalition expects gentrification to accelerate due to the nearby $500 million Obama Presidential Center, making housing unaffordable for current residents. In addition to negotiations, the coalition organized a blockade of the mayor’s office and set up a “tent city” to emphasize their message. Not all residents want the ordinance and neither side got everything they want.

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How Your Local Election Clerk Is Fighting Global Disinformation

Matt Vasilogambros

July 20, 2020 |

Stateline |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Many entities are working with social media companies to flag election-related disinformation. The California Secretary of State emails voters about how to report false information so the state can flag it and the Arizona Secretary of State verifies official accounts with social media companies. In the private sector, the startup VineSite uses artificial intelligence to identify and flag false information and the nonprofit Mitre has an app used by 160 election officials to report social media disinformation. Officials have a good relationship with social media companies, but there is room for improvement.

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Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16

James A. Anderson

July 20, 2020 |

Next City |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Research shows that voting at a young age leads to lifelong civic engagement and several cities and countries have lowered their voting ages. In the handful of democracies that allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, they also show that they turnout in large numbers. Austria was the first EU country to allow 16-year-olds to vote and in 2014 their turnout was 64%, compared to 56% for voters 18-20. Takoma Park, Maryland allows 16-year-olds to vote, and in 2015 45% of them turned out compared to 21% overall. The national movement is slow, and not gaining a lot of traction, but changes can happen at the local level.

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How sports institutions have overhauled their images in the past

Dana Jacobson

July 18, 2020 |

CBS News |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Renaming the Washington Redskins to remove a racist name and logo will require a difficult and delicate process juggling a host of issues that other professional and college sports franchises have successfully navigated in the past. Often a years-long process, rebranding involves choosing a name and color scheme that replace the harmful imagery with a positive name that passes trademark tests, wins fan support, maintains brand equity and continuity built over decades, and can be reduced to a simple logo that looks good on helmets and in all media, from TV screens to smartphones.

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