Covering elections and politics is an ongoing enterprise. The November presidential election is over and the crush of resulting stories has lightened. Still, it's good to remember that some of the best stories coming out of the elections are the ones developing now, the ones you can do any time of the year to examine subjects that are key to understanding our democracy: political power and voter registration, to name just two.
In the most recent election season, journalists from coast to coast fired up their databases and discovered interesting stories about voters registered in more than one locale, political nonprofit contributions and problems with felon-voter purge lists – all great stories. From the stories reported so far, it's clear that even more are waiting to be uncovered. This issue of Uplink, starting with the front page article by IRE and NICAR's Andrea Lorenz, presents resources for journalists who want to stay on the trail through the year ahead.
It's that time of year: We're busy getting ready for the CAR Conference March 17-20 in Hollywood, Calif., putting together the best possible schedule of hands-on classes and panels on computer-assisted reporting topics. For the first time, we're offering a full day (Thursday, March 17) of special sessions tailored for advanced CAR practitioners. So mark your calendar; we'd love to see you in Hollywood.