Money and Politics

Forty-four states in the United States today bar people with mental illnesses from voting. Apart from laws affecting felons, these are the last overt voting restrictions on the books for citizens over 18. The exclusionary laws typically used in most states apply to those found to be “mentally incompetent” by the court and then placed […]

Millions of Americans are routinely stymied when attempting the most basic right of our democracy – casting a vote. In the radio documentary “Whose Vote Counts?,” CIR associate reporter Rebecca Perl investigates how citizens are legally denied or left out of the voting process. In an important election year, an estimated 10 million votes (or […]

Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark helped an Arkansas information company win a contract to assist development of an airline passenger screening system, one of the largest surveillance programs ever devised by the government. Starting just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Clark sought out dozens of government and industry officials on behalf of Acxiom […]