The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "election process" ...
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Local officials are likely to profit from fracking in Southern Tier
Local government officials have been lobbying the state to the controversial oil and gas extraction process known as fracking. But when they spoke at public hearings and pushed in other forums, were they just representing their communities, or did they have more at stake? In a four-month investigation, SUNY New Paltz students reviewed thousands of public records in two states. The investigation found more than 30 locally elected officials who have been outspoken proponents for fracking. Public records and additional examinations identified about 20 percent of those with more than political philosophy at stake — the chance to gain personally and financially. To open government advocates such as Common Cause, these instances raise concerns about transparency and conflicts of interest among locally elected officials. About six months after publication, and after further moves by local officials to press the state to approve fracking, the state attorney general has launched inquiries into whether local officials have violated conflicts of interest.
Tags: Oil; gas; oil and gas extraction; fracking
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St. Bernard Voting Fraud
In an effort to preserve the sense of community in St. Bernard, and other similar parishes affected by Hurricane Katrina, the state passed legislation allowing residents to continue to vote at their previous residences, even if they were living outside of the parish during the rebuilding process. Fast forward six years. 2011. The rebuilding of St. Bernard continues, but with a post-Katrina population of 35,000, the parish has a fraction of its former residents. While some property owners have returned, many have moved to St. Tammany Parish. This is where WVUE's investigation begins. The investigative team received a tip that a St. Bernard Sheriff's Department employee lived in St. Tammany Parish, but was still voting in St. Bernard. This tip came right after the primary in St. Bernard's critical fall elections. The WVUE-TV team requested all voting records for the election, and found out that the deputy was the tip of the iceberg; illegal voting was widespread.
Tags: broadcast; voter fraud; Hurricane Katrina
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The Jobs Game
"This series of articles by the AP showed that, despite his 2002 election on a "reform and renewal" platform in which he pledged to "end business as usual," Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration continued some of the old-style practices of patronage- and might have violated the law in the process."
Tags: patronage; bribe; republican party; rutan; supreme court; department of central management
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Will Your Vote Count?
Problems with electronic voting machines during Maryland's primary election in September prompted top state officials to urge voters to cast absentee ballots in the November general election. However, there were serious problems with absentee ballot applications and processing. Among the findings: 40% of the people who requested absentee ballots in Baltimore County received them too late for their votes to be counted. The application said the ballots needed to be sent back to the election board a week in advance of the election day; however, the Baltimore election board director said that ballots needed to be returned three weeks ahead of time.
Tags: voting; electronic voting; absentee voting; Baltimore; Maryland; elections; election law
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Under the Influence: Money in Trenton
In the face of campaign contribution reforms, the staff at The Record perform an extensive investigation into the major contributors for candidates in the 2003 New Jersey state legislature elections. What they found was that candidates and contributors have discovered new ways around contribution limits through a process called "wheeling," which transfers large sums of money into key candidates' races. Using data from the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, reporters discovered a number of flaws in the information that had gone unnoticed, and contributors who had gone unpunished. According to the questionnaire, "The Record learned that the toughest penalty these legislatures would face was a fine, and even that was unlikely if they returned the funds befor ethe commission learned about it."
Tags: CAR; New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission; Division of Financial Recording; wheeling; lobbying
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Failed Voter Purge: Florida's Felons List Generates Worries
Most news organizations examined the Florida voter purge list to see if the flaws from the 2000 election had been corrected. But, reporters from the Herald-Tribune picked up another story in the process: a flaw in the list ensured Hispanic felons would retain their right to vote while thousands of traditionally democratic black voters would remain disenfranchised. The paper also found that top election officials in Florida were aware of the discrepancies.
Tags: election; fraud; voting; ballots; discrimination
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Making Elections Fair to Minorities; Euclid, where blacks have never won an election
Reporters with The Record performed an independent analysis of one community's election process, only to discover "some level of racially polarized voting in four of five elections. The analysis shows that, in a community that is made up of 29% African-Americans and 56.8% whites, making the elections unfair and unbalanced. As a result, the election process made it more difficult for all members of the community to be fairly represented. As a result of this, the community of Teaneck was under investigation of the Justice Department.
Tags: elections; Teaneck; U.S. Department of Justice; regression analysis
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Queens County judgeships: No Republicans need apply
This series looked at the election process for state and city judges in Queens. After two months of investigation, the reporters found that the Queens County Democratic Organization and its chairman, are in firm control of who makes it to the bench in the borough's state and city courts. The Democrats have an unbroken record of winning judicial elections, going back to at least 1990. The investigation also found the chairman of the Queens County Democratic Organization, also a lawyer, can gain lucrative appointments and contracts from their friends on the bench.
Tags: Queens County Democratic Organization; judicial elections; election process; state judges; city judges; bribery; Brooklyn judiciary; Brooklyn Democratic party; election records; campaign finance; Queens County Bar Association; Association of the Bar of the City of New York; Queens County; Queens State Supreme Court; Office of Court Administration; New York City Civil Court; Commission to Promote Public Confidence in Judicial Elections; judgeship; Queens Treatment Court; Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Queens County Republican Party; Commission on Judicial Conduct
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The Real Cheaters; Absentee Minded
A Riverfront Times investigation reveals that in Dallas "ballot bounty hunters are hired to fan out through minority neighborhoods and "assist" voters in applying for and casting absentee ballots." The story provides a glimpse on the real cost of political corruption. The reporter interviews a number of defrauded voters, mostly elderly African-Americans, and describes how they ballots have been taken from them and who has done it. "Arcane election laws and lax enforcement make the process seem not quite illegal, though plenty sleazy," The Observer reports.
Tags: elections; Dallas City Council; school boards; candidates; politics; minorities; poverty
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Watchdogs on Short Leashes
A Center for Public Integrity study reveals that "more than half of the nation's state legislatures have no independent oversight of elected legislators' ethical conduct." One of the major findings is that only 23 states have independent commissions that investigate or enforce violations of ethical conduct violations. Some lawmakers have used the budget writing process to 'punish' their ethics commission, the Center finds. The vast majority of the existing commissions fail to initiate any large investigations because they lack power and financial support. The report includes nationwide overview and state-by-state breakdowns, comparing the state commissions' budgets, significance of findings and actual enforcement power.
Tags: lawmakers; legislators; agenda setting; conflicts of interests; ethics statutes; accountability; disclosure