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Governor: 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote after error in New Jersey

Gov. Mikie Sherrill says fewer than 400 of those people ended up casting ballots

Jul 21 • 3:27 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

6,600 noncitizens registered to vote by New Jersey motor vehicle system error, Gov. Sherill says

The Democratic governor, who took office this year, blamed a Motor Vehicle Commission system software error but said a preliminary analysis showed that fewer than 400 of the people registered that way went on to cast ballots.

Jul 21 • 3:21 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Trump ally to run for two offices at same time, including Lindsey Graham’s seat

The South Carolina Election Commission clarified last week that candidates can appear on general election ballots for multiple offices.

Jul 20 • 12:04 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process

[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe

Jul 20 • 9:29 AM EDT • Science • democracysos.substack.com

Hicks Commentary: The Lincoln Party Is Already Winning

This column was originally published for the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks July 19, 2026 The Lincoln Party has taken a deeply consequential step. By collecting sufficient signatures to place former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard on the ballot for secretary of state, his team

Jul 20 • 1:04 AM EDT • Politics • indianacitizen.org

Politics Unplugged (Full Episode) July 19, 2026

On this episode of Politics Unplugged, political editor Dennis Welch sits down with Joana Mendoza — a former Marine Corps drill instructor and Democratic candidate — who is challenging incumbent Republican Juan Ciscomani in Arizona's Congressional District 6, discussing affordability, immigration, and ICE reform. Then, with Arizona's primary election just days away, Welch brings in Republican consultant Chip Scutari and Democrat Stacy Pearson to break down the most competitive races, including the GOP governor's primary between Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, the attorney general's race, and a crowded CD1 field. The panel also weighs in on what the early ballot returns and independent voter enthusiasm could signal heading into the general election this fall.

Jul 19 • 6:26 PM EDT • Politics • azfamily.com

California voters to decide on Prop 5 changes to recall election process

Proposition proposes removing the second question from recall ballots and altering how successors are chosen in California.

Jul 19 • 11:25 AM EDT • Politics • kcra.com

Pols & Politics: Brensley launches write-in bid for Sec. of State following failed Lt. Gov. campaign

Former GOP Lt. Gov. candidate Anne Brensley is launching a write-in campaign for Sec. of State after failing to qualify for the ballot due to falling victim to a signature collection fraud scheme.

Jul 19 • 4:16 AM EDT • Politics • bostonherald.com

Ballot initiative to block political donations by utilities and contractors advances

The Michigan elections bureau on Friday recommended certification of a ballot initiative that, if passed, would significantly restrict political spending by regulated utilities and large government contractors.

Jul 17 • 9:39 PM EDT • Politics • crainsdetroit.com

Republican candidates for secretary of state share priorities for elections administration, business regulation

by Maya Shimizu Harris, WyoFile Republican candidates for Wyoming secretary of state shared their visions for the job and views on topics ranging from crossover voting to ballot drop boxes Thursday at a forum in Laramie. Wyoming’s secretary of state post has risen in prominence in recent years as worries about election integrity and shady corporations […]

Jul 17 • 5:45 PM EDT • Business • county17.com

Missouri ballot measure campaigns dominate fundraising, ad spending for primary

Broadcast ad spending on Amendments 4 and 5 is approaching $9 million as days run down before Aug. 4 vote

Jul 17 • 10:42 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

NC elections board approves new rule making it easier to disqualify ballots

The elections board’s Republican majority approved a series of rules in a 3-2 vote, including one on ballots without voter ID.

Jul 16 • 11:35 AM EDT • Politics • newsobserver.com

Progressive uprising divides Democrats up and down Michigan's ballot

Amid voter frustration with the \

Jul 16 • 12:02 AM EDT • Politics • detroitnews.com

City Council settles November ballot: ShotSpotter in, ICE and pension questions out

A City Council standoff over advisory referendum questions means Chicagoans will vote on reviving gunshot detection technology and creating a permanent festival venue, while proposals on immigration costs, pensions and other issues won't make the November ballot.

Jul 15 • 3:28 PM EDT • Politics • chicagobusiness.com

Organizers of efforts to establish two new political parties in Nebraska submit signatures

The groups behind the effort to establish two new Nebraska political parties submitted required signatures to get a ballot line this November.

Jul 15 • 12:54 PM EDT • Politics • nebraskaexaminer.com

Trump congratulated Iraq’s prime minister on election. He wasn’t on the ballot.

President Donald Trump repeatedly congratulated Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh Kadhim al-Zaidi on his victory in a “highly competitive” election.

Jul 14 • 2:33 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Health care ballot measure could appear in La Crosse, Eau Claire this November

Community Action Wisconsin, also known as CAW, collected 13,000 signatures across both cities in support of a local health care action plan measure.

Jul 14 • 7:29 AM EDT • Health • weau.com

Money out of Politics faces petition signature challenge as campaign works toward November ballot

The challenge says a ballot measure to limit political donations from Michigan’s public utilities and large government contractors didn’t collect enough valid signatures to make the ballot.

Jul 13 • 7:15 PM EDT • Politics • michiganpublic.org

Which Veterans on the Ballot Defend VA Health Care?

There’s a difference between candidates who have used VA health care and want to preserve it, and those who haven’t and want to privatize it.

Jul 13 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • prospect.org

Grace abandoned: Ohio’s journey to politicians stealing power from voters in elections

Ohio’s mail-in ballot grace period began as an effort to help all Ohioans vote and avoid embarrassing catastrophes like 2004, but axing it has become a tool for disenfranchising Democrats and concentrating power in the hands of Republicans.

Jul 13 • 3:30 AM EDT • Politics • ohiocapitaljournal.com

Trump voting losses in court shield New Jersey elections — for now

Weeks before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress, president is renewing push to exclude ballots

Jul 13 • 12:05 AM EDT • Politics • njspotlightnews.org

Opinion: The ‘billionaire tax’ dominates this year’s ballot measure politics

The wealth tax is destined to be not only the single most controversial ballot measure this year but probably have the most expensive dueling campaigns.

Jul 12 • 1:00 PM EDT • Politics • timesofsandiego.com

Who will replace Graham Platner on the ballot? Everyone is talking about the wrong thing.

Being lost in all the politics is a human story, and an achingly familiar one for survivors.

Jul 11 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • bostonglobe.com

Libertarians won’t be on the ballot in Georgia

The party failed to gather enough signatures required to qualify statewide candidates for the midterms.

Jul 11 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • ajc.com

Business-backed group challenges signatures to put political spending ban on ballot

Protect MI Free Speech says it found problems with signatures submitted by a group backing the ballot initiative.

Jul 10 • 5:53 PM EDT • Politics • crainsdetroit.com

Maine Supreme Court affirms Bellow’s decision to invalidate trans sports ballot question

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court Friday affirmed the Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to remove a question about transgender sports from the ballot this November because its campaign committee did not collect enough valid signatures. The group, called “Protect Girls Sports,” initially submitted enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, proposing an […]

Jul 10 • 11:34 AM EDT • Sports • mainemorningstar.com

Who will replace Graham Platner on the Maine ballot?

Democrats in Maine are beginning a sprint to nominate a new candidate for a pivotal U.S. Senate seat, This, after progressive nominee Graham Platner announced he's withdrawing from the race after a sexual assault allegation.

Jul 9 • 2:21 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Who will replace Graham Platner on the ballot? 7 Democrats to watch

Whoever is selected will have less than four months before facing longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the general election.

Jul 9 • 1:50 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Young Cuban Americans’ political shift is real. It just hasn’t hit the ballot box yet

Young Cubans in Miami who never experienced Castro’s oppression have inherited only the memory and not the wound. | Opinion

Jul 9 • 9:12 AM EDT • Politics • miamiherald.com

9 possible candidates who could replace Platner on Maine’s ballot

Will Democrats choose another progressive nominee or distance themselves from Graham Platner’s wing of the party amid his scandals?

Jul 8 • 8:18 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

In Maine, voters consider their options as they await Platner’s decision

With the embattled Democratic Senate nominee under pressure to leave the key race, other politicians are maneuvering to replace him on the ballot.

Jul 8 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Overruling the voters before they even vote

By Chris Richardson There is something profoundly wrong with a legislature that sees a citizen-led constitutional amendment gaining momentum and responds not by making its case to the public, but by passing a law designed to neutralize it before voters ever cast a ballot. That is exactly what happened with House Bill 26-1430. Initiative 175 […]

Jul 8 • 3:00 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

AI is already reshaping US politics at every level

Artificial intelligence is barging into the workplace and transforming the battlefield. Now, it’s coming to the ballot box, promising to rewrite the DNA of politics. Driven by a flood of Silicon Valley money, AI has emerged as one of the biggest financial forces in this year’s U.S. elections, fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars […]

Jul 7 • 11:38 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

The fight over trans girls’ sports participation moves to Nov. ballot in AZ, CO, WA

Ballot measures seeking to restrict transgender student-athletes’ participation in school sports will appear before voters in AZ, CO and WA.

Jul 7 • 10:00 AM EDT • Sports • ctmirror.org

The fight over trans girls’ sports participation moves to the November ballot

State ballot measures seeking to restrict transgender student-athletes’ participation in school sports will appear before voters in November.

Jul 7 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • 19thnews.org

Who Might Replace Graham Platner if He Drops Out of the Maine Senate Race?

Graham Platner can be replaced on the ballot if he withdraws in the next week. If he does, Maine Democrats would face an uncertain two-week race to choose a replacement.

Jul 6 • 6:26 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Big 12 football: KSL Sports Insiders share preseason team ballots

KSL Sports Insiders Steve Bartle and Mitch Harper shared their 2026 preseason All-Big 12 football team ballots. Here's how they voted.

Jul 6 • 3:16 PM EDT • Sports • sports.ksl.com

The down-ballot races that could shape Minnesota politics for years to come

Plus: Republican Senate hopeful pushes back on criticism over self-funding.

Jul 6 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • startribune.com

Portland ballot measure for more public say in city budget clears hurdle

Portlanders rallying to infuse the city’s budget process with more public input are a step closer to getting their proposal on the November ballot.

Jul 6 • 9:00 AM EDT • Politics • opb.org

Inside California Politics: Will ballot measures drive turnout in November?

A month past the primary, election season has hit a lull before campaigns reach full swing in the fall. On Inside California Politics this week, host Nikki Laurenzo sat down with two political insiders to discuss various candidates and campaigns: Republican strategist Rob Stutzman and Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta.

Jul 5 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • ktla.com

Inside California Politics: Will ballot measures drive turnout in November?

(Inside California Politics) — A month past the primary, election season has hit a lull before campaigns reach full swing in the fall. On Inside California Politics this week, host Nikki Laurenzo s…

Jul 5 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • fox40.com

‘Who Should I Vote for?’ Voters Turn to A.I. Before Casting Their Ballots

It takes effort to be an informed citizen. Artificial intelligence tools offer an alluring shortcut — but they’re not without risk.

Jul 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

AI is already reshaping US politics at every level

Artificial intelligence is barging into the workplace and transforming the battlefield. Now, it’s coming to the ballot box, promising to rewrite the DNA of politics. Driven by a flood of

Jul 4 • 4:15 AM EDT • Politics • hanfordsentinel.com

Maine group revives push for universal health care ballot initiative

Advocates are hoping to gather enough signatures to get a question about publicly funded health care on the November 2027 ballot.

Jul 3 • 9:00 AM EDT • Health • themainemonitor.org

Hochul joins calls for USPS to drop plan tied to Trump’s election order

The order in question seeks to create a federal list of eligible voters and potentially limit who can receive a ballot in the mail.

Jul 3 • 8:38 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Democratic governors press US Postal Service to drop plan tied to Trump's election order

A group of Democratic governors is asking the U.S. Postal Service to withdraw its proposed rule to comply with an executive order that seeks to create a federal list of eligible voters, including those eligible to receive a ballot by mail

Jul 2 • 9:39 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Why USPS ballot ruling is trending

Jul 2 • 4:30 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Goal of higher voter turnout remains elusive in California

Counties are required to complete their counting by Thursday

Jul 2 • 2:30 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Facing setbacks and resistance, Trump presses bid to reshape elections on multiple fronts

President Trump has spent months waging an unusually aggressive campaign to reshape how states run elections.

Jul 2 • 1:19 PM EDT • Politics • latimes.com

Wisconsin Senator demands investigation into Postal Service

Sen. Tammy Baldwin said hundreds of votes were not counted in the state’s April election because ballots were delivered after the deadline.

Jul 2 • 12:15 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com

Backers of online sports betting in Nebraska submit signatures to get on 2026 ballot

The question of whether online sports betting should be legal in Nebraska will likely come before voters this November.

Jul 2 • 11:27 AM EDT • Sports • 1011now.com

Goal of higher voter turnout remains elusive in California

Counties are required to complete their counting by Thursday

Jul 2 • 10:54 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com

How democratic socialist Melat Kiros stunned Colorado politics with congressional primary win

The Denver Democratic Socialists of America has now notched by far its biggest electoral victory to date, after years of downballot wins.

Jul 2 • 10:53 AM EDT • Politics • coloradonewsline.com

Goal of higher voter turnout remains elusive in California as changes have extended ballot counting

California has enacted many changes over the years that were intended to boost voter turnout

Jul 2 • 10:06 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Federal judge blocks Postal Service from carrying out Trump mail-in ballot order

A federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing President Donald Trump's executive order on mail-in ballots nationwide, citing a 2020 agreement.

Jul 2 • 7:21 AM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

Bonus 236: A Term of Self-Inflicted Wounds

Within minutes of the Supreme Court handing down the birthright citizenship ruling on Tuesday and rising for its summer recess, its defenders were pointing to that decision (alongside the late-arriving mail-in ballots ruling on Monday and the tariffs ruling from February) as decisive proof that the Court really is “above politics,” and that criticisms of the justices for behaving more like politicians in robes than like judges are thus unfair. For a particularly thoughtful version of this claim, see Professor Will Baude’s opening response to the latest New York Times written roundtable about the Court with Baude, Professor Kate Shaw, and me. In that roundtable, I already offered one of the two major arguments against this thesis—that it’s an assessment of the numerator without regard to the denominator, and that a full account of the Court’s behavior throughout OT2025 suggests that the Court behaved even more politically during the current term than during even the previous (highly politicized) one. Just to take one of many data points, last term (OT2024), there were six rulings in argued cases in which all six Republican-appointed justices were in the majority and all three of the Democratic appointees were in dissent (along with a slew of such rulings on the emergency docket). This term, there were … 13. (Along with two 6-3 summary reversals and 10 rulings on the emergency docket from which the three Democratic appointees all dissented.) Today’s bonus issue addresses the flip side of that coin. In particular, below the fold, I identify four different moments in which the justices could have acted in ways to specifically defuse charges of political behavior—and opted instead to lean all the way in. As much as end-of-term narratives focus on what the Court did, and on the takeaways from individual rulings, consider today’s post an attempt to identify opportunities that the Court missed, as well. At least in the examples discussed below, by opting for the outcome that made the Court look more transparently political, the Court inflicted a series of (unnecessary) credibility wounds on itself. For those who aren’t paid subscribers, we’ll be back Monday with our regular coverage of the Court. For those who are, please read on.

Jul 2 • 7:15 AM EDT • Politics • stevevladeck.com

Backers of online sports betting in Nebraska submit signatures to get on 2026 ballot

The question of whether online sports betting should be legal in Nebraska will likely come before voters this November.

Jul 1 • 2:08 PM EDT • Sports • nebraskaexaminer.com

Kalamazoo residents submit signatures to put Healthcare Action Plan on November ballot

Kalamazoo residents submitted enough signatures to the Kalamazoo City Clerk Wednesday morning to put an initiative on the November ballot for a local healthcare

Jul 1 • 1:11 PM EDT • Health • wwmt.com

Party fever: Another political party is gathering signatures to get on Nebraska's ballot

A party that wants to put Americans and Nebraskans first is collecting signatures to secure a ballot line ahead of the November election. A similar effort is underway to establish a Nebraska Working People Party. Both efforts have a July 15 deadline to get enough signatures.

Jul 1 • 1:11 PM EDT • Politics • nebraskaexaminer.com

5 takeaways from Colorado’s shocker of a 2026 primary election

Voters in Colorado’s Democratic primary on Tuesday night mostly let their elected officials know that they’re fed up with the party’s Washington politicians and ready to back the most aggressive fighters they can find. At the same time, the voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary mostly embraced the GOP’s establishment, throwing the beleaguered […]

Jul 1 • 1:16 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

Phil Weiser leads Michael Bennet in early returns in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary

Attorney General Phil Weiser took an early lead over U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary as election officials posted initial returns soon after polls closed Tuesday night. In the first round of results, Weiser had secured 60% of the vote to Bennet’s 40%, with just over 200,000 total ballots counted statewide. The […]

Jun 30 • 9:18 PM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

Two Dan Sullivans will be on the ballot in Alaska

The incumbent senator accuses his challenger of being a Democratic plant set up to confuse primary voters, but fellow Republican Dan J. Sullivan has said his desire to run is genuine.

Jun 30 • 10:27 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Maine high court to hear appeal ballot initiative case

Oral arguments are set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.

Jun 30 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

US Sen. Dan Sullivan’s same-name challenger can be on primary ballot, Alaska Supreme Court rules

The Alaska Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican US Sen. Dan Sullivan is qualified to run for the seat and ordered elections officials to place him on the August primary ballot.

Jun 29 • 7:37 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Colorado court rejects November ballot initiatives aimed at redrawing congressional districts

Colorado voters won’t get to decide this November on whether to change the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats

Jun 29 • 6:06 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

$12B science bond to offset Trump research cuts misses California ballot deadline

University of California leaders and scientists had supported the bill, which they called critical to securing the future of science in the state.

Jun 29 • 5:19 PM EDT • Science • berkeleyside.org

The Supreme Court handed Trump an election case defeat. Is a bigger win for him coming?

The Supreme Court’s ruling letting more than a dozen states keep their post-election grace periods for mail ballots is a defeat for President Donald Trump and Republicans ahead of the midterms, but the GOP can still capture significant victories in major election-related cases coming farther down the pipeline.

Jun 29 • 5:04 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Trump unloads after Supreme Court upholds late mail-in ballots in Mississippi

Trump slams Supreme Court ruling allowing late mail-in ballots, demands Congress pass the SAVE Act requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship.

Jun 29 • 5:02 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

A new political party could be coming to Nebraska; state Democratic Party officials call foul

The sponsor behind the push for the new party is Robin Richards, according to paperwork obtained through the Secretary of State's office.

Jun 29 • 4:33 PM EDT • Politics • nebraskaexaminer.com

Alito blasts latest SCOTUS ballot ruling as invitation to ‘voter fraud’ risks

Justice Samuel Alito warns that counting late-arriving mail-in ballots could severely undermine Americans' confidence in election integrity.

Jun 29 • 4:07 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

Supreme Court ruling gives a reprieve to states with grace periods for receiving mail ballots

Election officials in states that allow mail ballots to be counted after Election Day say they are relieved that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an effort to outlaw the practice

Jun 29 • 3:18 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

How Mississippi reacted to the Supreme Court mail-in ballot ruling

In a rare move out of lockstep with President Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court backed Mississippi's law counting mail-in ballots after Election Day.

Jun 29 • 3:01 PM EDT • Politics • clarionledger.com

Republicans call for Senate to pass SAVE America Act after mail ballot ruling

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted shortly afterward

Jun 29 • 2:07 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Republicans call for Senate to pass SAVE America Act after mail ballot ruling

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted shortly afterward

Jun 29 • 2:07 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Conservatives revolt after Trump-appointed Barrett joins liberals in ‘shockingly wrong’ mail ballot ruling

Amy Coney Barrett faces conservative backlash after authoring the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling allowing mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

Jun 29 • 1:52 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

Colorado Supreme Court: Redistricting plans for 2028 election cannot proceed under state constitution

The Colorado Supreme Court blocked all attempts at redrawing congressional district boundaries for the 2028 election from reaching the ballot on Monday, concluding each of the proposed ballot measures violated the constitutional single-subject requirement. The court considered five distinct, but related, ballot measures. Three proposals would have redrawn U.S. House of Representatives districts to give […]

Jun 29 • 12:10 PM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

New York AG lauds Supreme Court's mail-in ballot ruling

Letitia James released a statement shortly after the court's 5-4 ruling, which stemmed from a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee.

Jun 29 • 11:32 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

New York AG lauds Supreme Court's mail-in ballot ruling

Letitia James released a statement shortly after the court's 5-4 ruling, which stemmed from a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee.

Jun 29 • 11:32 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Supreme Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots, rejecting Trump-led challenge

The decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day.

Jun 29 • 10:41 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Supreme Court rules mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day can be counted

A decision against such ballots could have upended election procedures in states across the country ahead of the midterm elections.

Jun 29 • 10:17 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

A brief history of same-named political candidates, election hijinks and Dan Sullivans in Alaska

The kerfuffle surrounding the Alaska Senate race isn’t the first time two Dan Sullivan candidates have wound up on the same ballot.

Jun 28 • 2:07 PM EDT • Politics • adn.com

The questions you'll see on the California ballot in November

California's Secretary of State has certified the questions Californians will see on the ballot in November.

Jun 28 • 11:25 AM EDT • Politics • kcra.com

California Politics 360 full episode | What to expect on California's November ballot

KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala leads conversations on California's November ballot questions, including the proposed billionaire tax.

Jun 28 • 10:55 AM EDT • Politics • kcra.com

Man with same name as U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska's primary ballot, judge rules

The judge ruled that the division’s decision to exclude Dan J. Sullivan because his candidacy was not “in good faith” was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law or the division’s own regulations.

Jun 27 • 6:35 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

GOP candidate with same name as senator can stay on Alaska ballot, judge rules

Supporters of incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan say a challenger with the same name is not running in “good faith,” but a judge says that is not an issue.

Jun 27 • 4:39 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Man with same name as US Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska’s primary ballot, judge rules

Man with same name as US Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska’s primary ballot, judge rules

Jun 27 • 8:46 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Man with same name as US Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska's primary ballot, judge rules

An Alaska judge has ruled that a man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible to challenge the senator in the August primary

Jun 27 • 12:15 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Politics Unplugged Podcast: Headlines with Stacy Pearson and Marcus Dell’Artino

The Politics Unplugged panel breaks down a possible Arizona special session tied to ESA vouchers, union protections and ballot measures. The discussion centers on whether lawmakers could unwind late-night legislation that angered teachers, police and firefighters. They also examine Gov. Katie Hobbs’ political leverage and why both parties may have reasons to cut a deal. Later, the podcast turns to Trump tax cuts, Democratic Socialists, the White House reflecting pool controversy and the World Cup.

Jun 26 • 10:15 PM EDT • Politics • azfamily.com

California is in for a summer of wild billionaire spending

OPINION: With competing tax measures on the ballot, California billionaires will be spending like... billionaires, political columnist Joe Garofoli writes.

Jun 26 • 9:27 PM EDT • Politics • sfchronicle.com

Newsom urges a national 'billionaires' tax' while fighting one in California

The governor announced his agenda a day after an influential health care union in California pledged to go forward with a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. Newsom opposes that measure.

Jun 26 • 2:56 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

California unions, hospitals strike deal — but billionaire tax heads to ballot

Two healthcare ballot measures are gone. One very contentious wealth tax isn't.

Jun 25 • 9:50 PM EDT • Health • calmatters.org