Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

The state of voting: Oct. 31, 2022

voting legislation updates

This weekly update summarizing legislative activity affecting voting and elections is powered by the Voting Rights Lab. Sign up for VRL’s weekly newsletter here.

The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,208 bills so far this session, with 583 bills that tighten voter access or election administration and 1,050 bills that expand the rules. The rest are neutral, mixed or unclear in their impact.

With early voting underway in much of the country, an Arizona court ruled that armed citizens have a First Amendment right to conduct surveillance of drop boxes. Plaintiffs have asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an injunction while their appeal is pending. And another Arizona group announced its intent to stop armed surveillance of drop boxes.

Meanwhile, the Nevada secretary of state ordered Nye County to halt its ballot hand count until it could comply with a court order prohibiting it from releasing results prematurely.

Looking ahead: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether counties may count a timely mail ballot cast by a registered, eligible voter if the voter forgot to date their mail ballot certificate. The decision is expected any day.

Here are the details:


Arizona voters seek protection from armed drop box surveillance. Responding to complaints of armed individuals surveilling voters at drop boxes in Arizona, groups filed two separate lawsuits seeking restraining orders to prevent voters from being intimidated. The defendants in one of the cases announced they would cease monitoring drop boxes, though the judge in that case has not yet ruled. The judge in the other case denied the request, citing the observers’ First Amendment rights. Plaintiffs have asked the 9th Circuit for an injunction while their appeal is pending.

A hand count of all ballots is on hold in a Nevada county, but poised to proceed in an Arizona county. The Nevada Supreme Court ordered that Nye County could not livestream its hand count, or otherwise allow public observation of a pre-election hand count, because doing so would result in the illegal premature release of results. Following the court’s rulings, Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske ordered the county not to resume hand counting until it could comply with the orders.

Meanwhile Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich approved a hand count of all ballots in Cochise County. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has indicated an intent to pursue litigation to halt that hand count. Cochise County officials had clarified last week that they would pursue a limited hand count audit after the election, as opposed to a full hand count tabulation of election results, following the threat of legal action by Hobbs' office. It is unclear how the new opinion from Brnovich may affect that decision.

Read More

Biased Coverage Distorts the Historical Record We Later Inherit
white printer paper on black table
Photo by Ashni on Unsplash

Biased Coverage Distorts the Historical Record We Later Inherit

I used to enjoy doing my schoolwork in my college newspaper’s office. There is a series of tall library shelves filled with dusty books held together by loose binding that contain every article printed since our inception in the 1930s.

The book covers have lost the sharpness of their hues over time, and the thin old papers inside are yellow and torn, but inside those books lie almost 100 years of articles that tell the stories and history of the college town, Isla Vista, and UC Santa Barbara, as written by student journalists at the Daily Nexus.

Keep ReadingShow less
America’s Child Care System Relies on Immigrants. Without Them, It Could Collapse

Maggi, a child care provider in New Mexico, works on an art project with a preschooler in her care. Parents have pulled children out of Maggi’s child care program as immigration enforcement has ramped up.

JACKIE MADER/THE HECHINGER REPORT

America’s Child Care System Relies on Immigrants. Without Them, It Could Collapse

This story about immigrants in New Mexico was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Maggi’s home in a suburban neighborhood here is a haven for local families. It’s a place where after just a few weeks in Maggi’s family-run child care program this spring, one preschooler started calling Maggi “mama” and Maggi’s husband “papa.” Children who have graduated from Maggi’s program still beg their parents to take them to her home instead of school.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former President Donald Trump

While the 870-page bill covers a whole host of issues and federal programs, there are four big takeaways from the BBB.

The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Big Beautiful Bill Reflects the Trump Administration’s Priorities, Not America’s

If a budget is a mirror of values, what does the “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) say about America?

On July 4, President Donald Trump signed into law Congressional Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill.” If you held up the bill to a mirror, most Americans would probably say that what they saw in the reflection was anything but beautiful.

Keep ReadingShow less