Jan 23, 2025 · In 2024, Politics Is Local. Bolts covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up. We report on the places, people, and policies that shape public policy. We focus on criminal justice and voting rights, and delve further in …

Bolts is the new home of “What’s on the Ballot,” a platform that since 2018 has offered cheatsheets and databases to organize the chaos of U.S. democracy. “What’s on the Ballot” is now continuing to help readers follow elections small and big, local and national, by producing more cheatsheets and information.

Jan 17, 2025 · 1. Will a redistricting case out of Louisiana weaken the VRA?. Conservatives are pursuing a multi-pronged attack to eliminate what is left of the Voting Rights Act. Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions in 2023, conservatives have objected with renewed vigor to the longstanding approach of considering race in redistricting to create minority-majority ...

1 day ago · After losing his reelection bid last summer, Georgia State Court Judge Stephen Yekel turned to a loophole in state law that could have erased the result and blocked the winner from taking office.. In Georgia, if judges announce they’ll quit at some point before the end of their term, they hand the governor the ability to choose their replacement for the next two years.

Nov 22, 2024 · Who Runs Our Elections? Our Bolts resources compile, state-by-state, the local and state offices responsible for administering elections, and those responsible for counting and certifying results.These sleepy offices hold a great deal of discretion over our democracy.

5 days ago · Voters in Grants Pass, Oregon, elected a new mayor and four new city councilors with far-right politics in November. The GOP-backed bunch was sworn in on Jan. 6, 2025, and called a special meeting the following afternoon, at which it doubled down on the type of anti-homeless policies that made Grants Pass famous last year when its case was heard by the highest court in the land.

Oct 11, 2024 · November is fast approaching, and with it a myriad of state and local elections. We published a guide last week to more than 500 races, and why they matter, to help you navigate it.. But we also wanted to hear from you. For “Ask Bolts,” our ongoing series in which we tackle reader questions, we asked you what you wanted to know about these upcoming elections.

Nov 25, 2024 · Earlier this month, California voters turned back toward the tough-on-crime era with the overwhelming passage of Prop 36, a ballot measure that elevates certain drug and theft charges from misdemeanors to felonies.The measure will effectively revive a sort of “three strikes” policy for some low-level crimes in the state, raising penalties for theft under $950 and drug possession and making ...

Oct 29, 2024 · Amber Smith thought she’d never be allowed to cast a ballot in her home state of New Mexico. Thirty years ago, when Smith was 18, she was convicted of a marijuana-related felony and sentenced to three-and-a-half years probation.

6 days ago · Chicago has had some degree of sanctuary protections since 1985, when then-Mayor Harold Washington restricted city employees from investigating residents’ legal status and barred cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The city council strengthened those protections by designating Chicago as a so-called Welcoming City in 2006. During Trump’s first term, immigrant rights groups ...