Holding local elections off-cycle seriously depresses turnout. A super underrated factor in American politics, and one of our favorite topics at @boltsmag.org. Great new @taniel.bsky.social story out on NYC election timing: boltsmag.org/new-york-cit...

Uncontested sheriff races are way more common than you might think—most sheriff races, in fact, feature just 1 candidate. Incumbents rarely lose.

Republicans benefit from this status quo, as the vast majority of sheriffs are conservative and pro-Trump: www.themarshallproject.org/2022/10/18/w...

Chesapeake Democrats say they’ve found no one willing to run for sheriff.

Immigrant rights advocates are very frustrated that in this big city, which is winnable for Democrats, in this of all moments, there is no remotely pro-immigrant choice on the ballot.

boltsmag.org/sheriff-elec...

With no Democratic or independent candidate in Chesapeake’s sheriff race, there are only two options for voters, both Republican:

1. Current Sheriff Dave Rosado, who calls himself “Detain ‘Em Dave”

2. Wallace Chadwick, a local police lieutenant who claims he’s even more pro-ICE than Rosado

The 2022 NYT headline that said Elon Musk’s politics are “not so simple” is understandably dunked on more often, but I’d argue this gem from 2018 has aged about as well.

Quoth Josh Stein’s lawyer, unbelievably:

This bit in Trump’s elections EO is such a ridiculous, low-effort lie. Counting ballots cast *before* the deadline is not remotely the same as letting someone vote in person 3 days after an election.

Many Americans have been conditioned to view felony disenfranchisement as normal—necessary for public safety, a fair punishment for crime, etc.

In reality, much US policy on this is way out of step with the rest of the world, and generally a product of explicit, vicious racism. For example:

As you can see on the bill, the county warned Chad that he had 2 months to pay this $17K+, and that the matter would be referred to debt collectors if he didn’t meet the payment deadline.

This is a bill a Pennsylvania man named Chad received in the mail a few days after being released from the county jail in Harrisburg.

It tells quite a story:

NC Republicans tried to sell their power grab as hurricane relief.

On Steve Bannon’s show, the House speaker actually told the truth: boltsmag.org/north-caroli...

I think many would be appalled to learn how common this is, and not just at max-security facilities. Incarcerated people often go years or even decades with no fresh air, never touching actual earth.

This is the “outdoor” recreation space of a county jail I recently visited:

Vigil losing doesn’t really affect the balance of power—Democrats still dominate the Colorado statehouse.

But it’s certainly a loss for the progressive wing, which already had other notable losses in the CO House this year. There weren’t/aren’t many other Colorado lawmakers with Vigil’s mindset:

This is the "outdoor" space at the Flint jail. It's 1/2 of a basketball court with some breeze coming in from open-air windows. Not actually outside.

Imagine living with that for years, never touching actual earth.

This is happening in a jail that fancies itself progressive, even radically so.

To hear the jail staff tell it, all the pro-voting stuff that goes on in the Flint jail is part of a broader program to "unify" incarcerated people with the free world, and to recognize the inherent value of every person detained.

Here's what the Flint sheriff, Chris Swanson, has to say about that:

Why is it so hard to vote from jail?

Well, the sheriffs who run local jails in this country are rarely motivated to help people in their custody with voting. This (from a story I wrote a few months ago) is an example of what vote-by-jail can look like under that status quo:

On October 3, candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court and Court of Appeals came to the Flint jail to speak with and court votes from incarcerated people.

People in jails are almost always are eligible to vote, but almost never get such direct access to politicians.

New California law explicitly permits solitary confinement of pregnant people, per @psfrench.bsky.social: boltsmag.org/california-s...

Meaning this kind of story could repeat itself:

In April, @bolts.bsky.social wrote that the parts of Pittsburgh most affected by incarceration + violent crime wanted change in the county justice system. We wondered: will suburbanites also embrace reform?

Tuesday’s map has the answer: no.

boltsmag.org/allegheny-county-pittsburgh-results-2023/