Erin Rode,
Nationwide, unhoused people have some of the lowest turnout among all voters. Los Angeles County is trying to change this with flexible polling centers that meet people where they are.

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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.

Learn About Election Administration

Who Counts Our Elections?

Who are the local and state officials who are responsible for counting, canvassing, and certifying elections?

Voting in Mississippi

Court Upholds Mississippi’s Jim Crow-Era Lifetime Voting Ban

“Imagine if just half of those folks could vote,” says a Mississippi advocate who hoped to defeat his state’s practice of permanent felony disenfranchisement.

Prosecution in Virginia

“An Impossible Choice”: Virginians Asked to Waive Constitutional Rights to Get a Plea Deal

Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have barred prosecutors from making defendants waive protections against unreasonable police searches as a condition of pleas.

Policing in Michigan

A Michigan City Ended Low-Level Traffic Stops. Now the County Could Follow.

In the race for Washtenaw County sheriff, candidates want to limit unnecessary policing encounters and reduce fees from traffic enforcement.

In 2024, 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.

Supreme Courts

Your State-by-State Guide to the 2024 Supreme Court Elections

Voters this year are deciding the fate of 82 seats across 33 states’ high courts. Cases involving abortion, democracy, and other critical issues hang in the balance.

Direct Democracy

Utah’s Highest Court Safeguards the People’s Right to Direct Democracy

The decision is a blow to the state GOP’s attempts to ignore a citizen initiative that had reformed redistricting. But the state’s gerrymandered maps remain in effect for now.

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.

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.
Piper French,
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.
Alex Burness,