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Mail-in votes helped make Florida's election a nightmare. A solution? More mail-in votes

David Smiley

February 28, 2019 |

Miami Herald |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

Over the past two decades, Florida has notoriously been plagued with voting complications, which have called into question the integrity of many state and national elections. In an attempt to simplify voting, Florida is now opting for three parallel systems: Election Day precincts, early voting centers, and by mail.

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Vanuatu Has One Of The World's Strictest Plastic Bans. It's About To Get Tougher.

Nick Visser

February 23, 2019 |

The Huffington Post |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Vanuatu, Port Vila

What started as a Facebook campaign to ban plastic bags has become legislation in the island country of Vanuatu. The country has banned many single-use plastics, including bags, drinking straws, and containers, and hopes to ban more plastics in the future. Citing a cultural respect for the environment, such legislation has been welcomed by residents.

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Australia is building community alternatives to prisons — they work

Lorana Bartels

February 22, 2019 |

Apolitical |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Australia

With their national imprisonment rate on the rise, Australia is pivoting to a justice reinvestment strategy that diverts money towards "early intervention, prevention and diversion." Although this has yet to be implemented on a large scale, small projects are underway in parts of the country and have delivered promising results.

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It's become much harder to rig elections in Nigeria thanks to technology

Yomi Kazeem

February 20, 2019 |

Quartz Africa |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

Using two-step authentication helps to increase the security of elections. Nigeria has addressed several of the problems that marred its 2007 elections by introducing card readers and permanent voter cards (PVCs) to replace paperwork that could be more easily forged. Nigeria’s electoral commission has also worked with cyber-security experts to implement the upgrades to its election systems. What remains is to ensure compliance with new regulations.

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Native American Rights Groups Are Targeting Six States to Fight Voter Suppression in 2020

Massoud Hayoun

February 14, 2019 |

Pacific Standard |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, North Dakota

Native American voters are disproportionately impacted by restrictive voter ID laws, particularly those that require proof of address because many Native Nations do not use formal street addresses. In response, the voting rights group Four Directions helped create and implement a system that allowed tribal officials to set up at polling places and immediately generate an ID on tribal letterhead with an address based on a location that a voter pointed to on a map. The group also supported lawsuits to expand polling places, lessening the financial and travel burdens for Native American voters.

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How 7 Women Helped Put Sexual Harassment on New York's Agenda

Vivian Yang

February 12, 2019 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Albany, New York

After 11 months of calls to employment lawyers and civil rights groups, legal proceedings, and recommended reforms to current legislation, seven women of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, all of whom are survivors, have successfully forced the New York's lawmakers to hold the first public hearing on sexual harassment since 1992. The members of the working group see the hearing as an important first step in reckoning with Albany's checkered past.

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Picture clue: cops turn to amateur web sleuths to help crack cases

Senay Boztas

February 04, 2019 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Netherlands, The Hague

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, otherwise known as Europol, is using crowdsourcing to identify locations involved in both past and current child abuse cases. By posting unedited images online and asking for tips to help identify the clue, tens of thousands of emails have been sent in by individuals and groups which has lead to the identification of nine victims and potentially stopped repeat offenders.

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On-the-ground pollution data spurred stricter zoning in Los Angeles

Ruxandra Guidi

January 31, 2019 |

High Country News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boyle Heights, California

In Boyle Heights, a working class neighborhood of Los Angeles, members of the community have taken to the streets armed with clipboards and pens to document environmental hazards, zoning violations, and and other things that endanger their fellow residents. They then took this on-the-ground information, which they called "ground truths," to local politicians to advocate for change.

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How Teenage Sisters Pushed Bali To Say 'Bye-Bye' To Plastic Bags

Michael Sullivan

January 26, 2019 |

NPR |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia

The island nation of Indonesia is the world's second biggest polluter of marine plastics, which can be disastrous for its tourism industry, setting aside the obvious environmental hazards. But two sisters in Bali took on the problem head on in 2013 with Bye Bye Plastic Bags. After an online petition, the sisters launched massive beach cleanups, awareness campaigns, and community workshops. After enough momentum, the governor of Bali banned single-use plastic.

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How Chicago's ‘J-school of the Streets' Is Reinventing Local News

Max Blau

January 24, 2019 |

Politico |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Strengthening the link between local journalism and civic engagement lends a voice to communities long underrepresented. Chicago’s City Bureau brings the newsroom out to neighborhoods and communities. In an effort to augment a lack of diversity in US newsrooms and a lack of understanding surrounding local issues, City Bureau empowers locals to act as “documenters” collecting, analyzing, and reporting on public meetings and issues that matter to their communities. By making journalism accessible to locals, City Bureau aims to build trust and redefine the journalistic process.

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