Category: Uncategorized
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Bold Justice: Twas the night before arguments…
Bold Justice: Twas the night before arguments… Twas the night before arguments, and all through the court, not a brief was stirring, not even about tort; the robes were hung by the bench with care, in hopes that the justices soon would be there… Welcome to the December 9 edition of Bold Justice, Ballotpedia’s newsletter…
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What are the responsibilities of state lieutenant governors?
The office of lieutenant governor is an elected statewide executive office in 43 states. In two other states, Tennessee and West Virginia, the President of the State Senate serves as lieutenant governor. Maine, Arizona, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not have lieutenant governors. Lieutenant governors derive their responsibilities from several sources, including gubernatorial…
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Ballotpedia releases federal vacancy count for November
In this month’s federal vacancy count, Ballotpedia tracked nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from November 5 to December 2, 2019. Ballotpedia publishes the federal vacancy count at the start of each month. HIGHLIGHTS Vacancies: There has been one new judicial vacancy since the October 2019 report. There are 90 vacancies out of 870 active Article…
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More Republican House candidates filed for 2020 than Democrats last week for first time this cycle
As of December 2, 2019, 1,869 candidates are filed with the FEC to run for U.S. House in 2020. Of those, 1,752—873 Democrats and 879 Republicans—are from one of the two major political parties. In 2018, 3,244 candidates filed with the FEC, including 1,566 Democrats and 1,155 Republicans. 299 candidates are filed with the…
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Trump has appointed fourth-most federal judges through December 1 of a president’s third year
Donald Trump has appointed and the Senate confirmed 164 Article III federal judges through December 1, 2019, his third year in office. This is the fourth-most Article III judicial appointments through this point in a presidency of all presidents dating back to Theodore Roosevelt. Only Jimmy Carter (186), George W. Bush (168), and Bill Clinton…
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November 2019 breakdown of state legislative party membership: 52.2% Republicans, 46.8% Democrats
November’s partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States shows 52.2% of all state legislators are Republicans and 46.8% are Democrats. Ballotpedia tallies the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. This refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in each chamber. Republicans hold…
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Tom Steyer leads in pageviews for the first time this year
Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers show which candidates are getting our readers’ attention. Tom Steyer’s campaign page on Ballotpedia received 4,081 views for the week of November 24-30. Steyer’s pageview figure represents 11.8% of the pageviews for the week. Pete Buttigieg had…
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Federal Register weekly update; highest weekly final rule total since September
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. During the week of November 25 to November 29, the Federal Register increased by 1,204 pages, bringing the year-to-date total to 65,906…
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Who may return a voter’s mail ballot? A state-by-state summary
Most states have laws permitting someone besides a voter to return the voter’s mail ballot. These laws vary by state. A central argument made by those who support restrictions on who may return a voter’s mail ballot is that elections are more susceptible to fraud without them. One of opponents’ central arguments is that…
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Federal Register weekly update; 2019 page total approaching 65,000 pages
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. During the week of November 18 to November 22, the Federal Register increased by 1,138 pages, bringing the year-to-date total to 64,702…