Year: 2025

  • ICYMI: Top stories of the week

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    Vermont, Ohio, North Carolina, and Oregon enact K-12 cellphone bans Since June 27, Vermont, Ohio, North Carolina, and Oregon have all enacted statewide bans on cellphone use in K-12 schools. Twenty-five states have enacted cellphone bans or limits in K-12 schools, with at least 17 doing so this year. Three states require all school district…

  • The Ballot Bulletin: July 11, 2025

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    Welcome to The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration. Every Friday, we deliver the latest updates on election policy around the country, including nationwide trends and recent legislative activity.  In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover 40 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week. Weekly highlights The big takeaways from the…

  • Texas voters to decide on slate of amendments prohibiting several types of taxes in November

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    The Texas State Legislature is sending three constitutional amendments to voters this November that would prohibit several types of taxes—Proposition 2, Proposition 6, and Proposition 8.  Proposition 2 would prohibit realized or unrealized capital gains taxes and add language stating that the prohibition would not apply to ad valorem taxes on property, sales taxes on…

  • Five candidates are running in the July 15 special Democratic primary for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District

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    Five candidates are running in the special Democratic primary for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District on July 15, 2025. Deja Foxx (D), Adelita Grijalva (D), and Daniel Hernandez Jr. (D) lead in fundraising, endorsements, and media attention. The special election will fill the vacancy left by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who died on March 13, 2025.…

  • Budget reconciliation bill enacts first federal private school choice program

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    What’s the story? President Donald Trump (R) signed the formerly titled One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) into law on July 4, enacting the first federal private school choice program. Under the program: The tax credit program will apply to donations made starting in 2027. What’s the background? The bill passed the U.S. House of…

  • Ballotpedia has covered at least one election every week through the first half of 2025

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    Between Jan. 1 and June 30—the first 26 weeks of the year—Ballotpedia has covered 23,454 elections on 47 unique election dates. Political observers often point out that every year is an election year, emphasizing that many important elections take place in odd-numbered years, which tend to garner less attention and coverage. But that observation could…

  • How and when states count absentee and mail-in ballots

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    Welcome to the Thursday, July 10, 2025, Brew.  By: Lara Bonatesta Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: How and when states count absentee and mail-in ballots Daily Brew readers may recall that back in April, we published a report analyzing why some states seem to count their ballots faster than…

  • Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #164

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    Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving  school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy.  In today’s edition, you’ll find: Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas! On the issues: The debate over Alpha Schools In this section, we curate reporting, analysis,…

  • Ballot measure update: Two indirect initiatives to appear on ballot in Maine, one more legislative referral in Arizona

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    The number of certified statewide ballot measures for both 2025 and 2026 is trending above average compared to previous election cycles as of July 8. 2025 ballot measures For 2025, 29 statewide ballot measures have been certified in eight states—Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. This is five more than the…

  • Trump has not had any federal judicial nominees confirmed through July 1 of his first year of his second term

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    The U.S. Senate has not yet confirmed any of President Donald Trump’s (R) Article III federal judicial nominees through July 1, 2025, his first year of his second term in office. This is the fewest number of Article III judicial appointments through this point in all presidents’ second terms since Bill Clinton (D). The average…