Category: Uncategorized

  • A handful of South Dakota voters once decided school start dates for the entire state; now local boards or local voters choose

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    In 1985, by a margin of 282 votes (0.1%), South Dakota voters approved a citizen initiative—Initiative 2—requiring public schools to start the school year after Labor Day.   In 1993, the state legislature altered Initiative 2 and repealed the requirement that the school year start no earlier than the first Tuesday after the first Monday…

  • Federal Register weekly update; 2019 average weekly page total climbs to 1,311 pages

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    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 August 26 to August 30, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 1,336 pages, bringing…

  • We’re entering California’s most active ballot initiative filing period

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    September is the start of meteorological autumn and, in California, the most active period for ballot initiative filings. Based on Ballotpedia’s analysis of the last three election cycles, you’ll get your first look at initiatives likely to be on California’s 2020 ballot over the next four months.   As of August 29, 27 citizen-initiated measures…

  • Ballotpedia releases federal vacancy count for August

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    In this month’s federal vacancy count, Ballotpedia tracked nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from August 1 to August 28, 2019. Ballotpedia publishes the federal vacancy count on the last Wednesday of each month.   HIGHLIGHTS Vacancies: There has been one new judicial vacancy since the July 2019 report. There are 103 vacancies out of 870 active…

  • In 2018, 88 state legislative races were decided by a margin of 0.5% or less

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    In 2018, 88 regular state legislative races were decided by margins under 0.5%, including 16 races decided by 10 or fewer votes and two which were decided by a single vote. Eighteen of these races took place in New Hampshire, three times as many as in any other state.   Regular state legislative elections for…

  • How has the United States acquired new territories?

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    Since the United States Constitution’s ratification in 1789, the country has grown from 864,746 square miles to 3,531,905 through territorial acquisitions.   According to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, the United States has employed three methods of territorial acquisition: Cession refers to a transfer of land that is formally agreed upon…

  • RNC outraises DNC by more than two-to-one for a fourth month, DSCC outraises NRSC for first time this year

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    The Republican National Committee (RNC) outraised its Democratic counterpart by more than two-to-one for the fourth consecutive month in July. At the same time, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) outraised its Republican counterpart for the first time this year, according to campaign finance reports filed with the FEC.   The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee…

  • New state legislative special election in Texas

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    A new state legislative special election has been added to our list. The special election is for the District 148 seat in the Texas House of Representatives on November 5, 2019. There is no primary, and the filing deadline is on September 4.

  • Triplex status at stake in three states in 2019

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    A state government triplex occurs when a state’s governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all members of the same political party. In states where these officers are not all from the same party, differing political views can bring them into direct conflict with one another.      Three states—Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi—are holding elections in…

  • Last week, Andrew Yang led in Ballotpedia pageviews for the first time since March

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    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.   Andrew Yang’s campaign page on Ballotpedia received 5,656 pageviews for the week of August 11-17. Yang’s pageview figure represents 10.2% of the pageviews for all Democratic candidates during the…