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Courts, state officials hesitate to keep Trump off 2024 ballots
Some scholars say a little-known, Civil War-era provision in the U.S. Constitution should prohibit former President Donald Trump from appearing on state ballots in next year’s presidential election. But it seems increasingly unlikely that he will be disqualified. Courts in Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey and elsewhere are considering whether Trump engaged in insurrection on Jan. […]
Governors show solidarity with Israel, earning plaudits and criticism
Eleven days after Hamas terrorists poured into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing at least 1,400 people and kidnapping more than 230, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrived in Israel with a photo of a Long Island native in hand to give to the president of the besieged country. Hochul, the Democratic governor of […]
As ranked choice voting gains momentum, parties in power push back
Over the past decade, ranked choice voting has become increasingly popular. From conservative Utah to liberal New York City, 13 million American voters in 51 jurisdictions — including all of Alaska and Maine — now use the system, under which voters rank candidates based on preference, leading to an instant runoff in a crowded race. […]
In reversal, some states make it harder for people with felony convictions to vote
The year started out strong for advocates trying to make it easier for people with felony convictions to regain their voting rights. In March, the Democratic-led legislatures in Minnesota and New Mexico enacted measures that cleared a pathway for residents serving prison time for felonies to regain their right to vote upon being released. It […]
Cities have ways to curb gun violence; feds are giving them more money
When shots ring out on the South and West sides of Chicago, Sam Castro and his team at the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago race to the scene of the shooting and to the hospital where emergency responders are treating the gunshot victim. Knowing most of the city’s gun violence is caused by a small cluster […]
Drought hits the Midwest, threatening crops and the world’s food supply
City leaders in Storm Lake, a rural community of 11,000 in Northwest Iowa, are asking residents not to wash their cars or water their yards and gardens during the hottest part of the day. The city also has cut back on watering public recreational spaces, such as ballfields and golf courses. These are highly unusual steps in […]
Why Republican-led states keep leaving a group that verifies voter rolls
Eight Republican-led states this year left an interstate cooperative that seeks to maintain accurate voter registration rolls, and three more may join them — a move that election security experts say is fueled by conspiracy theories. Earlier this month, Virginia’s top election official said the state would become the latest to stop participating in the […]
As 2024 election looms, state legislatures consider voting changes
With their eyes on the 2024 presidential election, state lawmakers around the country are preparing to reshape voting rules in what election experts expect will be another busy legislative season. Republican lawmakers — many of whom are motivated by the mistaken belief that the voting system is riddled with election fraud — are looking to […]
The tumultuous life of an independent redistricting commissioner
A warm breeze blew past Colleen Coyle Mathis and her husband, Christopher, as they lounged on the back porch of their Spanish Colonial Revival-style house one evening earlier this month, drinking bottles of Pacifico. Marigold, their 2-year-old Bernese mountain dog, lay at their feet, and the music of Linda Ronstadt hummed in the background. Life […]