Year: 2025

  • New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signs bills requiring new documentation for absentee voting

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    New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) signed Republican-sponsored bills expanding voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements for absentee voting on Aug. 1, 2025. Both laws take effect on Sept. 30, 2025. SB 287 requires voters requesting an absentee ballot to include a photocopy of a valid photo identification or a notarized signature with the absentee…

  • Massachusetts voters have decided on 231 ballot measures since 1910

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    Ballotpedia completed an inventory of all Massachusetts ballot measures dating back to 1910. Massachusetts voters have voted on 231 ballot measures between 1910 and 2024. Of those, 161 (70%) were approved and 70 (30%) were defeated. In Massachusetts, citizens have the power to indirectly initiate state statutes, veto referendums, and constitutional amendments. While a direct…

  • Twenty-two states enacted K-12 cellphone bans so far in 2025

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    Twenty-six (26) states have laws or policies requiring local school boards to ban or limit cellphone use in K-12 classrooms. Twenty-two (22) of these laws were enacted in 2025, with the most recent put in place in Oregon through an executive order. Three additional states require K-12 public school districts to adopt policies around student…

  • North Carolina governor vetoes bill opting into federal private school choice program

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    What’s the story? Gov. Josh Stein (D) vetoed House Bill (HB) 87, titled the Educational Choice for Children Act, on Aug. 6. The bill was designed to opt North Carolina into the federal private school choice tax credit program passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA)…

  • Incumbent Bruce Harrell and Katie Wilson advance to Nov. 4 general election for Seattle mayor

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    Katie Wilson and incumbent Bruce Harrell defeated seven other candidates in the August 5 nonpartisan primary election for mayor of Seattle. Wilson received the most votes with 48.1% to Harrell’s 43.6%. The general election is scheduled for November 4, 2025. Harrell was first elected in 2021, when he defeated M. Lorena González 58.6%-41.2%. The last…

  • Seattle school board August 5 primary election results

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    In the August 5 nonpartisan primaries for Seattle school board, incumbent Sarah Clark and Kathleen Smith advanced in District 2, incumbent Joe Mizrahi and Laura Marie Rivera advanced in District 4, and Vivian Song and Janis White advanced in District 5. The District 7 nonpartisan primary was canceled, and the only two candidates — Jen…

  • The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, August 8, 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 37 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week. Weekly highlights The big takeaways from the…

  • ICYMI: Top stories of the week

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    Texas House Democrats leave the state to prevent a quorum for congressional redistricting Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives have left the state to prevent a quorum necessary for the chamber to vote on the proposed congressional district map. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) added redistricting to the state’s 30-day special legislative session…

  • Twenty-six states have some sort of state law governing school library curation policies

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    Welcome to the Friday, Aug. 8, Brew.  By: Briana Ryan Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Twenty-six states have some sort of state law governing school library curation policies As students and parents across the country prepare for school to be back in session, we’re looking at how state laws…

  • President Trump has appointed five federal judges through August 1 of the first year of his second term

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    President Donald Trump (R) has appointed and the Senate has confirmed five Article III federal judges through August 1, 2025. This is the fewest Article III judicial appointments through this point in a president’s second term since Bill Clinton (D). The average number of federal judges appointed by previous presidents at this point in their…