Author

Matt Vasilogambros

Matt Vasilogambros

Matt Vasilogambros covers voting rights, gun laws and policing for Stateline, reporting from California. Before joining Stateline, he was a writer and editor at The Atlantic, where he covered national politics and demographic shifts. Previously, he was a staff correspondent at National Journal covering the White House and elections, and has written for Outside and Backpacker magazines. In 2017, he completed the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail. He is a graduate of Drake University.

Ballot opening lead Eldon Miller works at the King County Elections headquarters, Nov. 17, 2023, in Renton, Washington.

In face of threats, election workers vow: ‘You are not disrupting the democratic process’

By: - November 30, 2023

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 […]

Participaints take part in the annual LA 49th annual Pride Parade in West Hollywood, California, in 2019.

In scrapping its LGBTQ-related travel ban, California pivots to ‘hearts and minds’

By: - October 2, 2023

In September, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom officially repealed California’s 2016 ban on state-funded travel to states with laws targeting LGBTQ+ people. The idea behind the ban — which applied to bureaucrats, lawmakers, academics and even college athletes — was to use California’s economic heft to dissuade other states from enacting such laws. By that metric, […]

An Eastern Oregon effort to join Idaho reflects the growing American divide

By: - September 9, 2023

ENTERPRISE, Oregon — This small ranching town, surrounded by towering tree-topped mountains and a valley of rolling grass fields, sits tucked into the northeast corner of the state — both out of the way and right in the middle of a contentious debate. At a meeting late last month, 25 people packed into a stuffy […]

Voters in Minneapolis, Minn., line up to vote during the 2018 midterm elections.

In reversal, some states make it harder for people with felony convictions to vote

By: - August 7, 2023

The year started out strong for advocates trying to make it easier for people with felony convictions to regain their voting rights. In March, the Democratic-led legislatures in Minnesota and New Mexico enacted measures that cleared a pathway for residents serving prison time for felonies to regain their right to vote upon being released. It […]

Natural gas flare shoots off from an offshore oil drilling rig in Cook Inlet, Alaska

In blue California, lawmakers struggle to drop fossil fuels from state pensions

By: - July 12, 2023

California could soon divest its public pensions from fossil fuel companies, as the state legislature looks to force the nation’s largest non-federal retirement funds to sell off nearly $15 billion in assets. The Democratic effort is part of a growing international movement by government, religious, nonprofit and academic institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies. […]

Police in Minneapolis unravel crime scene tape

Cities have ways to curb gun violence; feds are giving them more money

By: - July 6, 2023

When shots ring out on the South and West sides of Chicago, Sam Castro and his team at the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago race to the scene of the shooting and to the hospital where emergency responders are treating the gunshot victim. Knowing most of the city’s gun violence is caused by a small cluster […]

Supreme Court gun rights decision upends state restrictions

By: - July 11, 2022

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that expanded the right to carry firearms outside the home, gun rights activist Andrew Namiki Roberts rushed to the Honolulu Police Department to apply for four permits to carry handguns in public. He was fourth in line, surrounded by excited Hawaii gun owners who felt vindicated […]

The hands of a person are shown holding a pistol at a gun shop

No Permit, No Problem: More States Allow Residents to Carry a Hidden Gun

By: - December 28, 2021

Six more states no longer require residents to hold a permit to carry a concealed firearm. Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Utah this year enacted what gun rights advocates often refer to as “constitutional carry” measures. A legislative priority for groups such as the National Rifle Association, 21 states now have such measures in […]