Appalachian communities are still reeling from the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene. More than 230 people have died. Homes have washed away. And with major interstates likely to remain closed for months, many folks are struggling to access basic necessities.  And while addressing immediate survival needs remains a top priority, […]

Voting is overwhelmingly safe throughout Appalachia, as it is across the country.  Despite reports showing right-wing, anti-democratic extremists are intimidating voters and election officials at higher rates and in more organized ways than in years past, those efforts are still relatively rare.  In West Virginia, for example, no one has […]

Remember Florida’s presidential election recount in 2000, with the hanging chads, the magnifying glasses, and the weeks of courtroom battles about how to count the votes? There could be post-election vote-counting chaos again in the 2020 election — maybe in Florida, maybe some other state, or even in several states […]

This piece was originally published in Scalawag, which amplifies the voices of activists, artists and writers reckoning with the South. You can read the original article here. Last week’s elections delivered an overwhelming victory for progressives in Virginia, where Democrats solidified a majority in the General Assembly and candidates in local […]

Democrat Andy Beshear made gains in rural counties, compared to the 2015 gubernatorial race. While Republican Matt Bevin still won the rural vote, his margin was slimmer, contributing to Beshear’s 5,000-vote margin of victory. Kentucky’s Democratic Governor-elect Andy Beshear built big leads with voters in the state’s largest cities, but […]