Year: 2021
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Redistricting timeline update: Georgia begins special session, New Hampshire and Ohio redistricting efforts delayed
Here’s a summary of recent redistricting updates from Georgia, New Hampshire, and Ohio. Georgia: The Georgia State Legislature convened for a special session focused on redistricting on Nov. 3, 2021. Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan (R) said he expected the legislature to agree on and pass state legislative maps quicker than congressional maps. “[State legislative…
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Nine state legislative seats changed party hands on Nov. 2
On Nov. 2, 2021, control of at least nine state legislative seats flipped from one political party to another. Eight of those seats flipped from Democratic to Republican control and the other flipped from Republican to Democratic control. There are 14 outstanding races still to be called, so these numbers could still change. The nine…
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Iowa, Massachusetts enact new district maps
Iowa enacted new congressional and state legislative maps, and Massachusetts enacted new state legislative maps, on Nov. 4. Nationwide, legislative redistricting has been completed for 444 of 1,972 state Senate seats (22.5%) and 1,243 of 5,411 state House seats (23.0%). In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed new congressional and state legislative maps into law…
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Ballotpedia tracked 12 police-related local ballot measures in 2021
Ballotpedia covered 12 local ballot measures concerning police policy in 2021. Six of those were decided on Nov. 2. According to unofficial election results, voters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, defeated an initiative that would have replaced the police department with a department of public safety in the city charter. The margin was 56.2% to 43.8%. Supporters…
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Independence Institute submits signatures for Colorado initiative targeting the 2022 ballot to lower the state income tax rate
On Oct. 29, 2021, the Independence Institute of Colorado reported submitting over 216,000 signatures for an initiative targeting the 2022 ballot to decrease the state’s income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.40%. The Independence Institute describes itself as a free-market think tank with a mission to “empower individuals and to educate citizens, legislators and opinion makers…
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Voters in three cities approved ranked-choice voting measures on Nov. 2
Voters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Broomfield, Colorado, and Westbook, Maine, approved ballot measures to enact ranked-choice voting (RCV) for mayor and city council elections. Westbrook’s measure also enacts RCV for school committee elections. A ranked-choice voting system (RCV) is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate…
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Election results in Clallam County, Wa.
The cities of Port Angeles, Sequim, and Forks, in Clallam County, Wa., held general elections for 26 municipal offices on Nov. 2. The primaries were held Aug. 3. The top two vote-getters in each race advanced to the general election. Races in which fewer than three candidates filed to run appeared only on the general…
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Seven incumbents lose in state legislative elections on Nov. 2, bringing the total for the year to 15
At least seven state legislative incumbents lost their re-election campaigns on Nov. 2, 2021. All seven of those legislators were Democrats—five in Virginia and two in New Jersey. This brings the total number of incumbents defeated in the 2021 elections to 15. Incumbents ran in 203 of the 220 state legislative elections this year, meaning…