Category: Uncategorized

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 September 9 to September 13, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 1,432 pages, bringing…

Our research project analyzing public-sector union membership, finances, and political spending is complete. We will be sharing our key findings with you in upcoming editions of our weekly newsletter, Union Station. This week, let’s turn our attention to membership totals.   Methodology: Because it is all but impossible to collect comprehensive data on public-sector union…

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 3,321 pageviews for the week of September 1-7. Yang’s pageview figure represents 10.5% of the pageviews for all Democratic candidates during the…

In the last week, four U.S. Representatives—three Republicans and one Democrat—announced they would not seek re-election in 2020. Bill Flores (TX-17), Susan Davis (CA-53), and Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-5) are retiring from political office, while Roger Marshall (KS-1) is running for U.S. Senate. To date, four Senators (three Republicans and one Democrat) and 19 Representatives (15…

Fifty-six percent of the 538 state legislative elections taking place in November 2019 do not feature major party competition, according to our 9th Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report. These 299 races feature a candidate from either the Democratic or Republican Parties, but not both.   On the other hand, 44 percent of the November 2019…

Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi are holding elections for governor in November 2019. All three states have gubernatorial term limits, but only Mississippi’s incumbent is prevented from running for re-election this year. Thirty-six states have some type of gubernatorial term limit.   Kentucky limits governors from serving more than two consecutive terms. Kentucky’s constitution states, “The…

The Democratic National Committee recommended its Rules and Bylaws Committee reject Iowa’s and Nevada’s 2020 virtual caucus plans Friday.   Party leadership said in a statement, “There is no tele-caucus system available that meets our standard of security and reliability given the scale needed for the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the current cybersecurity climate.”…

In 2019, Ballotpedia is covering elections for 36 state executive offices in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Each state has its governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state offices on the ballot, along with a number of down-ballot seats (24 across the three states). In total, 139 candidates filed to run for these 36…

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…

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…