October 3, 2023
The Five States Where Trifectas Are At Play in November
Parties are battling over governorships and legislatures in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia, with the future of abortion and voting rights in the balance.
September 28, 2023
Refugee Organizing Helps Spur Noncitizen Voting in Vermont Cities
September 26, 2023
Maine Referendum Spotlights Voting Rights for People Under Guardianship
September 19, 2023
Forced Labor Continues in Colorado, Years After Vote to End Prison Slavery
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Criminal Justice Elections
Which Counties Elect Their Prosecutors and Sheriffs in 2023?
There are nearly 500 elections for prosecutor and sheriff scheduled in 2023. This is the Bolts database of those local elections.
Election Administration
Who Counts Our Elections?
Who are the local and state officials who are responsible for counting, canvassing, and certifying elections?
In 2023, Politics Is Local
Bolts covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up. We’re a digital magazine that reports on the places, people, and policies that shape public policy. We are focusing on criminal justice and voting rights, and we also share databases and cheat sheets to help you follow on our vertical What’s on the Ballot.
Rights Restoration
The Virginians Who Can’t Vote Because of Glenn Youngkin
People leaving prison automatically regained the right to vote under the previous governor. But Youngkin ended that policy and now decides who gets to cast a ballot.
Voting From Jail
Dallas County Jail Adds Election Day Polling Place After Pressure from Activists
Nearly all county jails make incarcerated people rely on absentee ballots to vote. Voting rights organizers say that misses eligible voters, and have started pushing to set up polling places behind bars.
Voter Registration
Oregon Wants to Register Medicaid Recipients to Vote. Will Biden Officials Allow It?
The federal government has for years been stalling similar efforts to automatically register lower-income residents to vote in Colorado and other states.
Criminal justice and local politics
Pennsylvania Votes
In Pennsylvania’s 2023 DA Races, There’s Already a Winner: Unopposed Prosecutors
The debates are over before they begin in much of the state, though a few counties like Allegheny still stand out for offering voters a stark contrast on criminal justice policy.
Kentucky Votes
Kentucky’s Governor Race Could Unwind Voting Rights Restoration
The state’s last Republican governor revoked an executive order that restored people’s voting rights. Advocates worry the GOP nominee in November’s election may do the same thing.
Washington Votes
A Pair of Election Deniers Are Running To Take Over Election Offices In Washington
Two politicians who stoked distrust about elections are on the ballot in populous Washington counties in coming months, and ordinary election workers could be caught up in the fray.
Abortion rights
The 2023 Elections
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.
June 29, 2023
“Just an Opportunity to Come Home”
Illinois, Minnesota, and New Mexico this year abolished sentences of life without parole for juveniles. Now comes the hard part.