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In the tightest states, new voting laws could tip the outcome in November
Editor’s note: This five-day series explores voter priorities in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election and the nation’s future. With the outcome expected to be close, the “swing states” as they are called are often a bellwether for the country. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Some […]
Wanted: Poll workers. Must love democracy.
This week, a coalition of election officials, businesses, and civic engagement, religious and veterans groups will make a national push to encourage hundreds of thousands of Americans to serve as poll workers in November’s presidential election. Poll worker demand is high. With concerns over the harassment and threats election officials face, and with the traditional bench […]
Racist slurs and death threats: The dangerous life of a Georgia elections official
Editor’s note: This story contains profanities and racist slurs. DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — When Milton Kidd leaves work at the end of the day, he slips out the back door of the domed Douglas County Courthouse, avoiding the public entrance where people might berate him or demand his home address. He never takes the same route home […]
More states consider voter ID laws amid conflicting research on their impact
Nevada voters may decide in November whether they should join three dozen other states in requiring voters to present valid identification before casting a ballot. And Maine may not be far behind, as the push for voter ID requirements grows nationwide despite conflicting studies over their effects. Conservative organizers in Nevada say they have gathered […]
New voter registration rules threaten hefty fines, criminal penalties for groups
ORLANDO, Florida — On a sticky Sunday afternoon in late May, Mark Wendell ambled through Loch Haven Park, a mossy, oak-covered green space wedged between a trio of lakes and the Orlando Science Center. Among the two dozen food and vendor tents lining the sidewalks at the Orlando Fringe theater and arts festival was People […]
Fearing political violence, more states ban firearms at polling places
Facing increased threats to election workers and superheated political rhetoric from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, more states are considering firearm bans at polling places and ballot drop boxes ahead of November’s presidential election. This month, New Mexico became the latest state to restrict guns where people vote or hand in ballots, joining […]
Feds deliver stark warnings to state election officials ahead of November
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials are warning the nation’s state election administrators that they face serious threats ahead of November’s presidential election. Secretaries of state and state election directors must be ready for potential cyberattacks, both familiar and uncomfortably new, according to the feds. And they must remain vigilant about possible […]
Gunfire, screams, carnage: As mass shootings proliferate, training gets more realistic
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The pop-pop-pop of gunfire cracked just as the rain started to fall in grisly synchronicity. Then the screams began. Within moments, civilians lay strewn across the ground, some lifeless, others writhing in pain. Blood flowed in streams that pooled with the rainwater on the muddying ground littered with shell casings. Three […]
Kids are flooded with social media and news. Some states want to help them question it.
Young people may be digital natives, but many of them aren’t equipped to deal with the increasing onslaught of disinformation and deepfakes appearing in their social media feeds. A growing number of states think they have an antidote: media literacy education. The goal of media literacy, sometimes called digital citizenship or information literacy, is to […]
‘That was my home’: Cities continue sweeps of unhoused encampments
SAN DIEGO — Tracy Bennett has packed up and moved her tent and possessions so many times when the city periodically clears her sidewalk encampment, she jokes she could run her own moving company. The black canopy that she’s wrapped in blue tarps and filled with blankets, food, a coloring book and the rest of […]
From flush to faucet: More places look to turn sewage into tap water
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — After an Orange County resident flushes her toilet, the water flows through the Southern California community’s sewer system, meanders its way to the sanitation plant, has its solids removed, is piped to a wastewater recycling facility next door and undergoes three different purification processes until it is clean enough to drink. […]
In face of threats, election workers vow: ‘You are not disrupting the democratic process’
Hundreds of election workers in Washington state’s second-largest county were busy opening mail-in ballots earlier this month when one of them came across a plain white envelope. As she cut it open, white powder leaked out. She carefully took off her gloves, put them down, backed away and called her supervisor. Workers evacuated the building […]