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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.

The availability of a proven COVID vaccine may be weeks away, but many Americans remain wary. State lawmakers have introduced bills to address its administration, including the boundaries of enforced immunization.
Despite fears that COVID, cyberattacks and misinformation might jeopardize results, voting was smooth and secure. What contributed to this outcome, and how might lessons learned affect future elections?
State legislatures have introduced more than 300 bills since October to deal with a litany of COVID-related problems, including ICU funding, liability shields, reauthorization of electronic public meetings and more.
Amber McReynolds and her group, the National Vote at Home Institute, played a major role in the success of the general election. She talks about lessons learned, and the future of vote-by-mail.
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses have closed because of the pandemic. A surge in new cases and unresolved election results are casting shadows on their year-end prospects, but recent bills offer help.
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.