A widespread data-sharing program highlights financial ties between local police and immigration enforcement—and how even sanctuary jurisdictions still feed “the deportation machine.”
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Learn about State Courts
Your State-by-State Guide to Every State Supreme Court
Bolts breaks down the structure, selection procedures, and functions of each state’s highest court.
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Who Counts Our Elections?
Who are the local and state officials who are responsible for counting, canvassing, and certifying elections?
Voting in Michigan
The Michigan Jail that Candidates Keep Visiting
This county lockup in Flint goes far beyond most in promoting civic engagement. But the jail still cuts people off from the world in many other ways while they await trial, sometimes for years.
Executions in Alabama
In Alabama, Prison Guards Accused of Violence and Misconduct Carry Out Secretive Executions
As the state keeps details around the death penalty hidden, an investigation into its execution team raises questions about how incarcerated people are treated in their final moments.
Policing in Chicago
Chicago Police Made Nearly 200,000 Secret Traffic Stops Last Year
Chicago police are required to document every time they pull someone over. But a new investigation reveals the department is releasing vastly incomplete data to oversight agencies, even as the superintendent pledges reforms.
In 2025, Politics Is Local
Bolts covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up. We report on the places, people, and policies that shape public policy. We focus on criminal justice and voting rights, and delve further in our vertical What’s on the Ballot.
You Asked Bolts. We Answered.
December 11, 2024
The Past and Present of Immigration Detention: Your Questions Answered
October 23, 2024
Downballot Stakes: Your Questions Answered
Criminal justice and local politics
Supreme Courts
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About State Supreme Courts
Why these courts matter, how they work, and the levers for changing them: Bolts answers your questions on these powerful institutions.
Direct Democracy
“It Just Feels Like Death”: Barrage of New Rules Target Arkansas Ballot Initiatives
Faced with popular initiatives to protect abortion rights and other measures they dislike, state Republicans are passing new bills that local advocates say will hollow out direct democracy.
Voter Registration
Michigan Law Is First to Automatically Register People to Vote As They Leave Prison
The legislature passed a bill that will also expand automatic voter registration in other ways, including applying it at Medicaid offices, and likely add many new Michiganders to voter rolls.
The 2025 Elections
March 27, 2025
The 20 Elections to Watch This April
Long ReadS
May 5, 2022
A Future for Susanville
Plans to shutter a California prison offer halting glimpses of a different world: an economy that doesn’t revolve around incarceration, a country where losing your job isn’t tantamount to ruin, and an opening for abolition.
August 28, 2024
On Native Land, a New Push to Expand Voting Meets the Long Tail of State Violence
Ongoing negotiations between tribal leaders and Colorado officials may chart a new path for automatically registering Native voters and growing voter rolls nationwide. But first the state is having to confront a legacy of mistrust.
