Year: 2026
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Fewest open state legislative seats in North Carolina since 2010
Ten seats are open in North Carolina’s state legislative elections this year, meaning no incumbents filed. That is the fewest open seats since 2010 and means newcomers could represent as little as 6% of the legislature next year. The average number of open seats each cycle from 2010 to 2024 was 24. Thirty-nine incumbents face…
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Here's what the new U.S. Postal Service rule on postmarks means for absentee/mail-in voting
On Dec. 24, a new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rule took effect, stating that mail is not necessarily postmarked on the day it is posted — implicating official documents that require postmarks, including tax returns, court documents, bill payments, and, in some states, absentee/mail-in ballots received after Election Day. USPS officials have said the rule…
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State supreme court vacancy count for December 2025
In this month's state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from Dec. 1 to Dec. 30, 2025. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts. Justices sworn into office: During December 2025, two justices were sworn into office. Appointees named and nominees confirmed:…
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Iowa indicates participation in federal school choice tax credit program
On Jan. 5, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced that the state would participate in the U.S. school choice tax credit scholarship program, which the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) established when President Donald Trump (R) signed the bill into law in July 2025. The announcement makes Iowa the sixth state to indicate participation…
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An overview of the rules, agency documents, and notices published in the Federal Register in the last quarter of 2025
The federal government added 14,353 pages to the Federal Register in the last quarter of 2025, spanning from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, for an annual total of 61,584 pages. According to the publication, that's the lowest annual page count of the Federal Register since 1992. The highest annual page count hit 95,894 in 2016.…
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Over the past two weeks, two new ballot measures were certified in Alaska and Oregon, and signatures were verified for 11 indirect initiatives in Massachusetts
As of Jan. 7, 58 statewide measures have been certified for the ballot in 30 states, five more measures than the average number certified at this point in other even-numbered years from 2014 to 2024. Here’s an update on the latest ballot measure activity during the past two weeks: The next signature deadline for ballot…