Media

Like millions of retirees who assumed their companies had taken care of them, Ronald Tussey never thought that his retirement plan might be flawed.

Polling showed that 70 percent of respondents believed SDR to be necessary to protect voter participation in Montana, with 66 percent also believing that SDR protects Montana’s democracy overall.

It’s not often that a local secretary of state candidate can garner national headlines the way Nina Turner did during her campaign in Ohio. Turner, an experienced legislator, had been a strong voice for protecting access to the polls in one of the nation’s most influential states. She had the backing of unions and other groups on the grassroots level. She was even a popular guest on cable news shows. Turner seemed poised to trounce her opponent. What he had, however, that she didn’t was money. Lots and lots of it.

Yesterday, Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice released their analysis of campaign spending in the 2014 state judicial elections, providing a detailed look at spending on TV ads. They found almost $14 million was spent on such elections, far surpassing several state records. And about $5 million was spent by outside groups on TV ads targeting state Supreme Court races.

Political scientist Michael P. McDonald recently released  preliminary turnout rates at the state (and national) level. These data are preliminary and will be continuously updated, but still yield some insights.

Firstly, we can look at the impact of felon disenfrachisement.

No matter who wins each of the hundreds of elections today, one thing's for sure: a relative handful of large donors and spenders are setting the agenda and terms of debate, while the rest of us are on the sidelines.

Early voting and Election Day Registration may have boosted turnout 

In my recent Explainer, I discussed the implications of the voting gap on policy and elections. Numerous studies show that in states where low-income voters turnout at a higher rate, inequality is lower. That is because in these chambers, policymakers tend to be more liberal and favorable to policies to decrease economic inequality.

Election Day is a crucial time to reflect on the fact that our elected officials, and candidates running for office, don’t look like America.