5 days ago · 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 ...

4 days ago · Alonzo Bland Jr., of Richmond, did everything the state asked of him following his felony conviction: He served time in state prison, completed a term of probation upon release, and paid off all court debts. Still he cannot vote, because the governor, Glenn Youngkin, who has sole discretion over ...

6 days 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.

Jan 24, 2025 · 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.

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.

Nov 19, 2024 · Who Elects their Prosecutors and Sheriffs in 2024? Our Bolts resource has the answers.Despite being an odd year, 2024 will shape criminal legal institutions around the nation with roughly 2,000 elections for prosecutor and sheriff.

Oct 23, 2024 · Our team at Bolts has spent much of the last year reporting on the stakes of the 2024 elections. Then last month, we turned the mic over to you: As part of our series “Ask Bolts,” we invited you to send us your questions about what is brewing in November. I answered six of your questions in the first part of our mailbag two weeks …

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.