A Ballotpedia survey of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs) revealed that no state constitutions or APAs provide for juries to participate in agency adjudication hearings, as of August 2020. Thus, hearing officers or other agency officials preside over and decide the outcome of adjudications instead of people from the community. Adjudication…
Between 2011 and July 2020, Ballotpedia tracked 243 retirement announcements from members of the U.S. House and Senate. January saw the highest number of retirement announcements of any month at 45—31 during even-number years and 14 during odd-number years, when no regular congressional elections are held. February and November had the second-highest total announcements at…
A Ballotpedia study of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs) showed that 46 state constitutions or APAs allow administrative agencies to choose whether to follow formal adjudication procedures in administrative hearings, as of August 2020. Those states allow administrative agencies to settle these cases informally with fewer procedural safeguards than the formal…
A Ballotpedia survey of all 50 states showed that no state constitutions or Administrative Procedure Acts (APAs), as of May 2020, require administrative agencies to get a court order before imposing monetary penalties as a result of adjudication proceedings. Those state constitutions and APAs let agencies impose penalties without involving the judicial branch of the…
The final primary of the the 2020 election cycle takes place in Delaware on September 15. So far in 2020, 97.3% of state legislators seeking re-election have advanced from their primaries, putting 2020 on track to mirror turnover rates recorded in 2018 and 2016. Eighty-six of the nation’s state legislative chambers in 44 states are…
July’s partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States shows 52.01% of all state legislators are Republicans and 46.80% 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 a…
Thirty-four states have statewide orders requiring individuals to wear masks in indoor or outdoor public spaces, as of August 6. All 24 states with a Democratic governor have statewide mask orders, while 10 out of 26 Republican states require face coverings. The mask requirements have been issued across five months: • Three orders have been…
The 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920. The 19th Amendment prohibited the government from denying or abridging the right to vote on account of sex, meaning that women were guaranteed the right to vote in the U.S. Constitution. Before the 19th Amendment, the women’s suffrage movement also campaigned for…
A Ballotpedia survey of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs) revealed that no state constitutions or APAs require agencies to prove rule violators acted knowingly before imposing penalties after adjudication. Without those requirements, state agencies may be able to order people and businesses to pay fines for breaking rules without proving whether…
On November 3, 2020, 5,875 state legislative seats are up for regular election across 86 chambers in 44 states. This includes 1,164 state senate seats and 4,711 state house seats. As of July 16, we’ve collected post-filing deadline data in 43 states. In 2020, 5,824 state legislative seats are up for regular election in those…