WASHINGTON - January 30 - Demos, a national, non-partisan public policy organization, announced the launch of the new Democracy Dispatches online. Published at www.democracydispatches.org, Democracy Dispatches is a web-based news journal offering commentary, blog-based analysis and an up-to-date newswire to provide information about voting rights, election reform and democracy-related issues in the United States.

Since it was first published in print and online in 2001, Democracy Dispatches has become a resource for reformers, journalists and policymakers who need timely news and information on a range of voting rights and election-related topics in the U.S. The all-new web-based Dispatches format will build on a strong 5-year record of reporting and analysis on a range of issues--voter registration, felon disfranchisement, youth mobilization, voter ID, campaign finance, election integrity, reform policy at the national and state levels, and others—with comprehensive daily updates on the key challenges and opportunities to a fair and just democracy.

Featured writers include Sasha Abramsky, a leading national expert on felon disfranchisement in the U.S.; Lorraine C. Minnite, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College; Tova Wang, Senior Program Officer and Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation; Stuart Comstock-Gay, Executive Director of the National Voting Rights Institute; Ron Hayduk, Professor of Political Science, Borough Of Manhattan Community College, Steven Carbo, Director of Demos' Democracy Program; Miles Rapoport, former Secretary of the State of Connecticut; and many others.

Throughout 2006, Democracy Dispatches will continue to expand its breadth and scope to address issues beyond the current election reform landscape and offer new ideas for creating a just and inclusive society in the United States—"the democracy we deserve."

To read the new Democracy Dispatches, visit www.democracydispatches.org. To sign up for Democracy Dispatches, visit www.demos.org/sign_up.cfm.

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