Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Republicans take center stage in Nebraska and West Virginia primaries

Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster

Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster speaks during a rally May 1.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

The 2022 primaries are heating up, with voters in two states casting ballots tomorrow to select nominees for Congress as well as state and local offices.

The most prominent races in Nebraska are a pair of GOP nominating contests, for governor and the House seat vacated by a lawmaker forced to resign after being convicted for lying to authorities about illegal campaign contributions. And in West Virginia, two Republican incumbents are facing off after the state lost a U.S. House seat following the 2020 census. West Virginia allows unaffiliated voters to participate in the primary. Legislative elections in Nebraska are nonpartisan, with the top two finishers advancing to the general election.

Since 2019, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and amid partisan fighting over administration of the 2020 presidential election, many states have been making changes to their election systems. In some cases, legislatures made it easier to vote whereas others tightened the rules. So with key races on the ballot, let’s review the changes made in the Cornhusker and Mountain states, both of which are controlled by Republicans.


Nebraska

While the state has made a number of minor changes in recent years, the biggest alteration occurred in two bills.

First, in 2020, Nebraska enacted a bill that sets new rules for pollwatchers, allows hand-delivery of ballots to the county clerk and requires at least one 24-hour drop box to be placed in each county at least 10 days before an election and limits the sharing of voter lists received through public records requests.

And in April 2022, the governor signed a wide-ranging election reform bill. Its provisions include:

  • Allowing emergency responders to request absentee ballots when serving outside their country of residence.
  • Making it easier for National Guard members to apply for a mail-in ballot.
  • Setting new security standards for ballot drop boxes, requiring the boxes to be accessible until the deadline for returning ballots, and sets electioneering boundaries around drop boxes.
  • Banning the use of private funds for election administration.
  • Banning foreign nationals from funding ballot initiatives.
  • Alternatives for providing signatures for voters with disabilities to provide.

West Virginia

For the past four years, lawmakers have been making changes that make it easier for people to vote, although some recent actions tighten the rules.

In 2019, the state made it easier for people with disabilities, illnesses or injuries to vote by absentee ballot. The following year, with the country facing the height of the pandemic, lawmakers allowed anyone to vote by mail although that permission did not extend beyond the 2020 election.

Last year, military and overseas voters as well as people with disabilities were granted additional options for returning their ballots.

The state enacted a number of election-related bills in 2022.

  • First responders assigned outside their home counties may vote by electronic absentee ballot.
  • Local officials have more flexibility in hiring election workers.
  • Election officials may not accept private funding.
  • The list of election crimes includes newly defined misdemeanors and felonies.

Read more about election law changes in every state.

Read More

Connecticut: Democracy, Innovation, and Economic Resilience

The 50: Connecticut

Credit: Hugo Balta

Connecticut: Democracy, Innovation, and Economic Resilience

The 50 is a four-year multimedia project in which the Fulcrum visits different communities across all 50 states to learn what motivated them to vote in the 2024 presidential election and see how the Donald Trump administration is meeting those concerns and hopes.

Hartford, Connecticut, stands as a living testament to American democracy, ingenuity, and resilience. As the state’s capital, it’s home to cultural landmarks like the Mark Twain House & Museum, where Twain penned The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, embodying the spirit of self-governance and creative daring that defines the region.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hand blocking someone speaking

The Third Way has recently released a memo stating that the “stampede away from the Democratic Party” is partly a result of the language and rhetoric it uses.

Westend61/Getty Images

To Protect Democracy, Democrats Should Pay Attention to the Third Way’s List of ‘Offensive’ Words

More than fifty years ago, comedian George Carlin delivered a monologue entitled Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” It was a tribute to the legendary Lenny Bruce, whose “nine dirty words” performance led to his arrest and his banning from many places.

His seven words were “p—, f—, c—, c———, m———–, and t—.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage
Why Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is good news for all media outlets
Getty Images

Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage

Last week, the ultraconservative news outlet, NewsMax, reached a $73 million settlement with the voting machine company, Dominion, in essence, admitting that they lied in their reporting about the use of their voting machines to “rig” or distort the 2020 presidential election. Not exactly shocking news, since five years later, there is no credible evidence to suggest any malfeasance regarding the 2020 election. To viewers of conservative media, such as Fox News, this might have shaken a fully embraced conspiracy theory. Except it didn’t, because those viewers haven’t seen it.

Many people have a hard time understanding why Trump enjoys so much support, given his outrageous statements and damaging public policy pursuits. Part of the answer is due to Fox News’ apparent censoring of stories that might be deemed negative to Trump. During the past five years, I’ve tracked dozens of examples of news stories that cast Donald Trump in a negative light, including statements by Trump himself, which would make a rational person cringe. Yet, Fox News has methodically censored these stories, only conveying rosy news that draws its top ratings.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Flag / artificial intelligence / technology / congress / ai

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Liberty and the General Welfare in the Age of AI

If the means justify the ends, we’d still be operating under the Articles of Confederation. The Founders understood that the means—the governmental structure itself—must always serve the ends of liberty and prosperity. When the means no longer served those ends, they experimented with yet another design for their government—they did expect it to be the last.

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity. Both of those goals were top of mind for early Americans. They demanded the Bill of Rights to protect the former, and they identified the latter—namely, the general welfare—as the animating purpose for the government. Both of those goals are being challenged by constitutional doctrines that do not align with AI development or even undermine it. A full review of those doctrines could fill a book (and perhaps one day it will). For now, however, I’m just going to raise two.

Keep ReadingShow less