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Carl Smith

Senior Staff Writer

Carl Smith is a senior staff writer for Governing and covers a broad range of issues affecting states and localities. For the past 30 years, Carl has written about education and the environment for peer-reviewed papers, magazines and online publications, with a special focus on conservation and sustainability. He has guest-edited special issues of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health focused on the Precautionary Principle and the human rights dimensions of environmental degradation. Carl attended the University of Texas and the University of Georgia. He can be reached at carl.smith@governing.com or on Twitter at @governingwriter.

Republicans continue their dominance at the state level, with Democrats failing to take chambers ahead of redistricting. Two chambers leaders were unseated, while several states saw demographic breakthroughs.
Despite the pandemic, there are dozens of measures that have made it on to ballots nationwide. They range from abortion and police reform to redistricting, taxes and transit. Here are key results.
All sides agree that naming the winners can’t come too soon, but complex and unique factors at play make quick results unlikely. Still, election officials are sticking to procedure to ensure fairness and accuracy.
To boost voter confidence, election officials in numerous counties are taking transparency to the ultimate level, installing live cameras in the rooms where ballots are sorted, verified and counted.
Take-out and delivery helped restaurants hang on during the pandemic, but a new wave of cases stands in the way of a return to pre-COVID operations and revenue. Legislative proposals aim to help.
As if navigating every choice on a ballot isn’t enough of a puzzle, voters are confused about how and where to vote. A team of tech experts and researchers has created a one-stop resource to guide them.
A bill celebrating the late actor Chadwick Boseman is one of many efforts states have undertaken to turn calls for racial change into legislative action. The BLM protests have turned into the country’s largest movement.
Transit officials are monitoring voter enthusiasm for a host of ballot measures they see as essential to economic recovery, supporting essential workers, social equity, climate goals and preventing traffic nightmares.
They employ almost half of all private-sector workers. The pandemic has hit them hard, especially Black and minority-owned businesses. Legislators want to help them bounce back with grants and other assistance.
Election officials are working to ease public confusion about changes in the voting process, and to counter campaigns undermining trust. High- and low-tech strategies are helping to reduce worries.