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Turnout has already exceeded the 2014 numbers -- especially among some Democratic-leaning demographics. But there are reasons for Republican optimism, too.
About 1 in every 25 Washington K-12 public school students, or about one child in every classroom, will experience homelessness this year, according to a report released in May by the state's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In Seattle, that rate jumps to 1 in 13 students.
A Las Vegas jury on Thursday unanimously decided in favor of mentally ill people who were cast out of a Nevada psychiatric hospital and bused across the country without proper care or planning.
Louisiana’s Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a ruling allowing the state to deny the right to vote to felons on probation or parole.
U.S. District Chief Judge Daniel Hovland denied a temporary restraining order filed by the Spirit Lake Sioux and six individuals against Secretary of State Al Jaeger, according to a news release issued Thursday.
As climate change forces cities to grapple with rising sea levels and increasingly powerful storms, coastal cities must prepare for a heightened likelihood of flooding, whether tidal flooding from rising sea levels or a hurricane that could dump inches of rain in a short period of time.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday signed a bill — unofficially dubbed “Cory’s Law” — that would clarify that a U.S. senator or member of the U.S. House from New Jersey can appear on the primary and general election ballots for those offices as well as for the presidency.
The race to be the next governor of Georgia has heated up since the primaries earlier this year, and some of the country's biggest stars made their way down south to campaign.
President Donald Trump's administration has approved Gov. Scott Walker's controversial plan to require childless adults on Medicaid to work or lose coverage, but the federal government rejected Walker's proposal to require drug screening and testing.
Democrats flipped six chambers, but Republicans still control nearly twice as many.
One-third of states will be "super-aged" by 2026, weighing down economies and finances for years to come.
The Rhode Island Department of Education said the 1st Circuit Court’s ruling calls for “Free and Appropriate Public Education” to be provided to people with disabilities until age 22. This conflicts with current state law, which states that such services are provided to age 21.
The revelation that Newark is facing a potentially widening public health crisis over tap water has angered many residents and raised questions about whether the city’s negligence has placed young children at risk.
Technology can help people who don't have lawyers and make courts more efficient.
There has been obvious friction between the two GOP candidates, and earlier in the campaign, lieutenant governor candidate Marissa Kerns said publicly that gubernatorial candidate Andria Tupola should apologize for her voting record, which Kerns said is too liberal.
Gov. John Hickenlooper has long drawn speculation as a potential contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
With Gov. Roy Cooper's signing of the executive order, North Carolina joins states like Colorado, California and others that have set statewide targets for reducing emissions of gases that are associated with global warming and climate change.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered boards of election in Ohio to count provisional election ballots for the 2018 midterm elections that are cast by certain people previously purged from the state's voter rolls.
The rate of premature birth across the United States rose for the third year in a row, according to the annual premature birth report card from March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that works to improve maternal and infant health.
Medi-Cal provides health coverage to 13.1 million Californians, approximately one-third of the state’s population. To qualify, a single adult must make less than $16,754 annually.
Preschoolers are eight times, on average, more likely to get kicked out. States are starting to notice and intervene.
Eight states have competitive elections next week whose outcomes could influence a number of policies. But these down-ballot races are largely overshadowed.
While Trump is seen as an asset to some mainland campaigns -- he has been stumping for his fellow Republicans in places such as Houston and Mesa, Ariz. -- political observers say it is a different story in Hawaii.
Beth Walker, 53, will be the court's third chief justice in one year. She will take the post Jan. 1, 2019, April Harless, deputy public information officer for the Supreme Court, said in a news release Monday.
The grants will go to nine different nonprofit organizations “operating at faith-affiliated institutions,” according to a press release from the mayor’s office and the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Most of the organizations are Jewish.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday endorsed new restrictions on gun and ammunition sales in New Jersey and a renewed push for "smart guns" that can be fired only by their registered owners.
Idaho’s Republican Gov. Butch Otter on Tuesday endorsed a ballot initiative that would expand Medicaid eligibility to thousands of people.
Four more states deep in Trump country — Idaho, Utah, Nebraska and Montana — have Medicaid expansion questions on their ballots; in Montana’s case, whether to continue their legislature-approved expansion.
The Department of Homeland Security has already provided or is scheduled to provide the service, which is free for states that request it, to only 21 states, a department spokesman told ABC News, concerning election experts who fear some states may not be aware of potential vulnerabilities.
Once a plan to execute on deploying public safety is completed, don’t stop there. Move the conversation to tracking and reporting.
In a year with more redistricting measures than usual, voters in several states reduced politicians' role in the process of drawing voting districts.
Several populous states, including New York, Florida and Illinois, have never elected a woman as governor.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Memphis Police Department violated a consent decree between the City of Memphis and the ACLU of Tennessee by spying on political protesters.
The announcement was a stark acknowledgment of the so-called spoiler discussion that has dominated the last three races for governor.
Several Democratic voters have complained the voting system indicated they were about to cast a vote for Cruz, a Republican, instead of Democrat O'Rourke as they prepared to send it.
A trio of companies — ES&S of Omaha, Nebraska; Dominion Voting Systems of Denver and Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas — sell and service more than 90 percent of the machinery on which votes are cast and results tabulated.
The governor's office and the Rauner-led Illinois Environmental Protection Agency kept the politically explosive information from the public for eight months.
Andrew Gillum, who is black, has not been convicted of any crime, though the FBI is investigating suspected corruption in his administration.
Former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgia native, wrote a letter to GOP gubernatorial nominee Brian Kemp asking him to step down as secretary of state and hand off oversight of the state's elections to someone else since he is currently running for governor of the state.
The global decline of trust in government produces an array of complex questions and challenges for contemporary democracies.
The state hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1994, but the progressive nominee is consistently -- and narrowly -- ahead in the polls against Republican Ron DeSantis.
The Department of Justice and internet service provider trade associations, which sued the state for enacting a law that sets different ground rules for internet protections in California, have also agreed to put that lawsuit on hold until 2019.
For a long time, Christine Hallquist was unsure—of exactly who she was, of exactly what she could do. Not anymore. Today, as the Democratic nominee in Vermont, she’s now battling to become the nation’s first transgender governor.
Investigators who doubted the woman's story leaked their concerns to Daily News columnist Mike McAlary, who wrote she may have made up the attack in a story headlined "Rape hoax the real crime."
The county will now open a Sunday polling place at Prairie View City Hall and expand voting hours at the university's campus center on Monday through Wednesday of next week to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., instead of the original 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Republican National Committee has apologized for inaccuracies in a mailer sent recently to Montana voters that could have resulted in votes coming in too late to count.
Several states have increased police presence at religious institutions. And religious leaders are grappling with the delicate balance between welcoming and wary.
Peduto told NBC's "Meet the Press," he believes that gun-control measures would go further to help stop these shootings.
Robert Bowers, the 46-year-old gunman, was charged with 11 counts of obstructing exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, 11 counts of using firearms to commit murder, four counts of obstructing officers and wounding them, and three of use and discharge of firearms.
We're not making the use we should of forms of contraception that can dramatically reduce unplanned pregnancies and infant mortality.
For the second time in two years, Washington state voters opted not to tax greenhouse gas pollution.
States across the country have limited citizens' right to sue their state or local government. Voters in one of them, New Hampshire, revived it on Tuesday.
The constitutional amendment, allowing religious monuments in government buildings, will almost surely wind up in court.
The GOP is at risk of losing nine seats, while Democrats could lose three. If there's a big Democratic wave, Republicans could lose their majority.
Florida voters opted to automatically restore voting rights to former felons, affecting some 1.4 million residents. In Louisiana, voters instituted a five-year waiting period for felons to seek political office.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed legislation that also requires police to contact the state Human Services Department whenever they encounter a child who has been sexually exploited.
With early voting on campus restricted to three days, civil rights attorneys, voting rights advocates and local Democrats are now raising the specter that the hour-and-a-half waits that students faced at the polling location could not only dim student turnout but also violate state and federal law.
Those envelopes normally have an “additional postage required” box for stamps, but the language was not included on the sample envelope submitted to a printer earlier this fall, said board spokeswoman Rachel Coll.
Voters in 28 counties impacted by Hurricane Florence will have more flexibility to vote using absentee ballots.
The order directs state agencies to protect Oregon’s coastal economy by preventing activities associated with offshore oil and gas drilling.
The New York Times confirmed with multiple sources a phone call this week when county officials reportedly acknowledged the missing applications and vowed to inform the applicants of the error.
Seventeen Arizona Democrats sponsored a bill that would have directed $2 million to the secretary of state’s office for census communication and outreach, half of which was to be given to each county based on population, and half to each city and town, but it died in committee.
Nevada, a swing state, bucked the trend in 2016. That was when Nevada chose Hillary Clinton for president, when Democrats flipped the state legislature from red to blue and when the state delivered the first Latina senator to Washington D.C.
The Trump administration expects to release a new draft of the proposal to expand offshore drilling "by year's end." Meanwhile, Florida voters sent a message expressing their opposition.
Washington state, which has a history of letting voters weigh in on guns, now ranks among the states with the toughest firearm laws.
Assistance for grandparents who are raising grandchildren -- a family dynamic that is becoming more common because of the opioid drug crisis -- is officially on the way.
Irving-based Exxon Mobil misled investors for years about the company's financial risks from climate change regulations, according to a lawsuit filed today by New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood.
This October, ensure you are taking all possible steps to enable quality skill advancement and digital community security by formulating your community cybersecurity upskill and outsourcing plan today.
Voters rejected a financial practice already common in most other oil-dependent states.
Wisconsin just got approval to implement the new rule, and it will take effect in two other states in January. Meanwhile, more than 8,000 people have lost health insurance in Arkansas -- many who may comply with the rule but not know about it.
The photo in the tweet Wednesday showed Handler giving a thumbs-up next to Deb Haaland, a Democrat running in New Mexico to become the nation’s first Native American woman in Congress.
Curtis Hill, a Republican, also still could lose his office when the General Assembly convenes in January if Hoosier lawmakers independently conclude, through a two-thirds vote by both Republican-controlled chambers, that Hill's behavior at A.J.'s Lounge warrants his impeachment and removal.
The complaint, filed earlier this month, accused Gov. John Hickenlooper of traveling the globe in private jets and rooming in expensive hotels paid for by businesses in violation of state ethics laws.
The Treasury Department is investigating the theft, which happened in July, city officials told The Washington Post.
Now district attorneys’ races have become more competitive, attracting large donations and challengers running on pledges to transform the criminal justice system.
Five bombs were sent to Democratic figures in New York City and Washington, D.C., this week. All of them were found and removed by authorities before they could detonate.
The Georgia NAACP filed complaints Tuesday with state election officials alleging that some voting machines mistakenly showed votes cast for Democrat Stacey Abrams registering for her opponent Republican Brian Kemp.
The implementation of the injunction could complicate the work of election officials statewide, requiring the review of hundreds or thousands of ballot signatures with less than two weeks until Election Day.
The legislation, among other things, expands access to substance abuse treatment in Medicaid.
The list of prominent national Democrats being sent packages containing bombs is growing. Threats of violence have also become more common against, and sometimes from, state and local candidates and public officials.
Early Monday morning, Austin Water issued a boil water notice for all of its customers due to elevated levels of silt from last week’s flooding. And by Monday night, the city was warning residents that "immediate action" was needed to avoid running out of water.
Businesses wanted voters to protect exemptions, loopholes and tax breaks that collectively cost the state more than $12 billion a year.
Missouri voters who do not have a photo ID when they arrive at the polls will no longer have to sign a sworn statement to cast a ballot.
As Grovetown prepares to house sex offenders in its council chambers on Halloween night, questions have arisen about the plan's legality.
After 'Explosive Devices' Are Sent to CNN and Top Dems, NYC Mayor Has a Message for Public Officials
Security was ramped up across the city Wednesday after a quartet of suspicious packages were mailed to the homes of former Presidents Clinton and Obama, Gov. Cuomo's Manhattan office and CNN's New York newsroom
Privacy concerns have prompted 10 states to add privacy protections in their constitutions.
After years of bitter fights over oil and gas development, Colorado voters have managed to get a statewide anti-fracking measure on the November ballot.
New Jersey's top Democrats in the Legislature acknowledged Monday that they will not meet their self-imposed deadline this month to vote on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana.
In the article, the writers slam the candidate for lacking ties to Nevada, his stances on immigration and reproductive rights and not having adequate qualifications for the job.
With just days to go until the mid-term elections, a Hillsborough County Superior Court judge has blocked the state from implementing a new election law known as Senate Bill 3.
Iowa Democrats are worried that a small change in the state’s voting law might have serious implications up and down the ballot this fall.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has tapped House Speaker Todd Richardson to run the state-run health insurance program for the poor.
Racine argues Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to provide information about immigration enforcement actions between July 9 and July 12 that resulted in 12 people being detained.
While the attorney general in Washington does not have jurisdiction over most criminal matters except for some misdemeanors, Racine can investigate potential civil violations.
A rundown of the most interesting and consequential local measures.
Advocates had said Pennsylvania was one of a dwindling number of states that suspended driver’s licenses for convictions such as drug offenses, a practice that became widespread during the war on drugs policies in the 1990s.
They reject cases that include DNA evidence, witnesses, and sometimes even confessions, records show.
The practice was revealed in a San Francisco Chronicle story on Sunday that said the department has, since at least 2011, required potential hires to sign a waiver allowing the department to conduct background checks for financial records, education transcripts and other information.
A letter of resignation dated Oct. 20, the same day Michael Dunn was arrested, was hand delivered to Lakeland City Hall on Monday afternoon.
California has made a difference in part by focusing narrowly on problems that arise during labor and delivery, using data collection to quickly identify deficiencies (such as failing to have the right supplies on hand or performing unnecessary C-sections) and training nurses and doctors to overcome them.
The information-sharing program is a rare example of the Trump administration building on an effort that launched during the Obama years.
In states that expanded Medicaid, the insurance program already covers addiction treatment for nearly everyone who is poor and needs it.
States would be able to use federal funding to provide subsidies to people buying short-term health insurance policies, which typically don’t provide comprehensive coverage, under guidance released Monday by the Trump administration.
The party's outlook has improved since last month. It's likely to gain between three and 10 seats in November.
Marijuana sales in Colorado exceeded $1 billion as of August of this year, with tax revenue from those sales coming in at $200 million, according to a report from the Colorado Department of Revenue and its Marijuana Enforcement Division.
But on the issue of grocery taxes, voters in the Pacific Northwest were divided.
The pilot online course, modeled after programs in Oregon and Michigan, was created in response to the rising number of Arizona schoolchildren skipping school-required immunizations against diseases like measles, mumps and whooping cough because of their parents' beliefs.
Police said Sunday that an officer out on a midnight tour on Saturday before noticed smoke coming out of the bottom of his body camera and removed it immediately.
With less than three weeks to midterm elections in which New Jersey is a congressional battleground, election-security experts warned that the state's voting machines remain vulnerable to hacking.
Gov. Rick Scott's order gives the eight counties the ability to extend early voting days and to designate more early voting locations, even though the deadline to do so has passed.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announced Friday he is dropping his bid for re-election, and threw support to Democrat Mark Begich over Republican Mike Dunleavy.
Poll workers can be the difference between a smooth election and long lines, mass confusion and miscounted ballots. But poll workers are older, less prepared and becoming scarcer.
More voters showed up to cast ballots in party primaries than in years past, and polls show more voters say they are enthusiastic about or closely following news about the election than in prior contests.
Both Democrats and Republicans are talking about infrastructure investment on the campaign trail, but only one party tends to have more detailed and ambitious plans.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have made the position appointed.
Thursday's ruling upheld a state Court of Appeals decision in the case of Brian Bassett, who was 16 when he fatally shot his parents with a stolen rifle and drowned his 5-year-old brother in a bathtub at the family's home in McCleary, Grays Harbor County, in 1995.
The state Department of Health this week approved medical marijuana use for people who suffer from some severe manifestations of autism, most of whom are children.
In an unprecedented court filing Wednesday, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian accused top legislative officials of ignoring subpoenas issued by his agency in its investigation of sexual harassment at the Oregon Capitol.
The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation has indicated that it will soon file new rules that would require short-term health insurance plans to cover the 10 “essential” benefits mandated by the ACA.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) said at a press conference inside his office shortly after 11 p.m. that he had tried to gather support for a plan that he believed would help victims seek justice, but that no one would meet him half way.
The current political debate over Medicaid centers on putting patients to work so they can earn their government benefits. Yet some experts say the country would be better served by asking this question instead: Are insurance companies — now receiving hundreds of billions in public money — earning their Medicaid checks?
According to research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute, the frequency of collision claims filed to insurers were higher in four states where marijuana is legal: Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
Election officials and federal cybersecurity agents alike tout improved collaboration aimed at confronting and deterring election tampering.
It was supported by many city and county officials but opposed by Gavin Newsom, the newly elected Democratic governor.
Advocates say "approval voting," which has never been used in electoral politics, offers voters more flexibility.
It's critical for public leaders to take the time to distinguish the signal from the noise.
Turning around the lives of at-risk populations requires a focus on outcomes, evidence and rigorous evaluation.
In setting digital priorities, public leaders need to think about productivity, equity and trust.
A new report ranks the most and least fair tax systems.
The new order, issued by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger, comes in a September 2017 class-action suit challenging a state law that allowed officials to revoke someone's license if they didn't pay a fine for a traffic violation.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety confirmed it has terminated a Memorandum of Understanding between DPS and the Jackson Police Department regarding MBI investigations of officer-involved shootings.
To maintain voters' favorable opinion and trust, municipal leaders need to keep some things in mind.
Ivey's camp pushed back against the allegations Wednesday. Daniel Sparkman, a spokesman for the governor, denied a cover-up or any need for a cover-up existed, and denied any meeting took place between Collier and the then-lieutenant governor over the matter.
After a contentious battle that had raged since its introduction, the Council officially killed the referendum in an 8-5 vote.
In the past week, several big-name Republicans have come to the state to campaign with Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Under the Arkansas program, beneficiaries subject to the requirement who don't meet it for three months in one year lose their benefits.
Rick Scott said companies should waive customers' bills for October and eliminate penalties for switching carriers.
State treasurers from Illinois, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania are also backing the measure, originally filed by Trillium Asset Management in June, which calls for a vote at the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's next general meeting.
Advocates say Prop. 12 represents the world's strongest protections for animals raised for human consumption.
An effort to strike Amendments 7, 9 and 11 failed Wednesday when the Florida Supreme Court unanimously OK'd the three initiatives for November's ballot.
Three weeks before Election Day, staffers who have worked for J.B. Pritzker's campaign have filed a federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in their months on the job, accusations the Democratic governor candidate quickly called "just not true."
Government officials in an east Georgia county told about 40 African-American senior citizens to get off a bus taking them to vote Monday, leading to complaints of voter suppression.
The governor wants to downsize the number of cabinet-level agencies by more than half -- without laying people off.
Kemp faces allegations of using his position to suppress minority voters and gain unfair advantage in the governor's race, highlighting the office's increasing partisanship and potential for conflicts of interest.
Supporters say the bill is a preemptive move in case Michigan voters legalize marijuana for recreational use next month.
Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered an investigation into the hiring of a former aide accused of sexually assaulting a campaign volunteer last year, saying Monday that he was "sick to my stomach" when he learned of the victim's story.
The state measures don’t apply to companies that are self-funded, meaning they pay their employee claims directly rather than buying state-regulated insurance policies for that purpose. They also don’t apply to government-funded programs such as Medicaid or the military’s Tricare program.
Voting advocates and civil rights groups have homed in on Gwinnett County and what they deem to be its "excessive rejection of mail ballots because of voters' innocent errors and discrepancies."
Alaskan Gov. Bill Walker did not specify what comments were made but said they were not suitable for his office.
