On the Ballot

On this episode: Earlier this week, voters in North Dakota approved a ballot measure that will establish age limits for the US Senate or US House of Representatives from the Roughrider State. The Congressional Age Limits Initiative, also known as North Dakota Initiated Measure 1, passed with 61% of the vote. It's officially the first American law of its kind to set a cap on how old you can be to serve as an elected official. Now that the law has passed, the million dollar question is…what happens next? Today's Guest is Dr. Mark Jendrysik–a political science professor from the University of North Dakota–who’s been closely following the initiative’s development and the domino effect it could potentially trigger. Learn more about the measure here: https://ballotpedia.org/North_Dakota_Initiated_Measure_1,_Congressional_Age_Limits_Initiative_(June_2024)  Candidate requirements across the country: https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislature_candidate_requirements_by_state  Sign up for our the Daily Brew Newsletter: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_Daily_Brew Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole. **CORRECTION: The second time we refer to the results of the ballot measure, the host says it passed with 69% of the vote; this is wrong, as it passed with nearly 61% support.**

On this episode: Introducing our new tool! The first nationwide resource for state-level administrative state bill tracking, our brand new tracker provides a free, one-stop hub for individuals to follow administrative state legislative reforms in every state legislature, from introduction to enactment.  Check out the Tracker here:  https://legislation.ballotpedia.org/admin-state/home  Learn more about the administrative state: https://ballotpedia.org/Administrative_state & https://ballotpedia.org/Administrative_State_Index & https://ballotpedia.org/State_responses_to_judicial_deference  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole. 

On this episode: As of May 23, 110 statewide ballot measures have been certified for the ballot in 35 states for elections this year. In even-numbered years since 2010, the average was 161 statewide ballot measures. With a little over a month until most state legislative sessions come to a close and citizen initiative signature deadlines approaching this summer, our ballot measures team takes a look at some of the trends that have emerged thus far this year and how state legislative sessions might shape out over these next few weeks. Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at mailto:ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @BP Newsletters. Explore trends and learn more here: https://ballotpedia.org/2024_ballot_measures Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at mailto:ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @BP Newsletters. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: As state legislative sessions begin to wrap up around the country, Ballotpedia has tracked roughly 20 enacted bills related to Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing across 14 states thus far in 2024. What do they have in common?  Leg. Supporting ESG: https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_approaches_supporting_ESG_investing  Leg. Opposing ESG: https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_approaches_opposing_ESG_investing  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: On May 21st, voters in Eugene, Oregon, will decide whether or not to replace the existing electoral system with STAR voting for Mayor and City Council Elections. If approved, the city would become the first in the world to utilize this system for electing their political leaders.  Through STAR voting, voters rate candidates for a given office on a scale of zero to five, with zero indicating no support and five indicating maximum support. The scores for all candidates are then tabulated and the top highest-scored candidates advance to an automatic runoff, at which time a voter's full vote is assigned to whichever of the two candidates he or she scored highest. The candidate whom a greater number of voters gave a higher score in the runoff is declared the winner.  KLCC reporter Nathan Wilk, who's been covering the proposal, and Ballotpedia’s Joe Greaney, join the show to share how Eugene Measure 20-349 got on the ballot, local perception of the proposal, how STAR voting works, and what the arguments for and against the election system are.  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. Learn more about the Ballot Measure here: https://ballotpedia.org/Eugene,_Oregon,_Measure_20-349,_STAR_Voting_for_Mayor_and_City_Council_Elections_Initiative_(May_2024)  Read Wilk’s reporting: https://www.klcc.org/politics-government/2024-04-23/eugene-could-adopt-star-voting-for-city-elections-how-would-this-work :  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole. 

On this episode: An interview with Sophia Voight, a political reporter for The Appleton Post-Crescent, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK in Wisconsin. We came across Sophia’s reporting about a month ago in a story she wrote just ahead of Wisconsin’s state-wide local elections on April 2nd, in which she noticed and documented something that we’ve been following closely here at Ballotpedia: Local elections, especially in rural areas, are increasingly going uncontested.  Through April of this year, Ballotpedia covered 11,945 elections in 40 states. Of that total, 8,802 (74%) were uncontested–16% more than the annual average between 2018 and 2023 (58%).  Voight joins Ballotpedia’s Doug Kronaizl to share what she’s learned in her reporting about why folks aren’t running for office, what the implications for local governance might be, and what might reverse this trend.  Learn more about the surge of uncontested elections this year: https://ballotpedia.org/Analysis_of_uncontested_elections,_2024  Read Voight’s reporting: https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/28/rural-wisconsin-communities-struggle-to-attract-candidates-for-elections/73032197007/  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: This weekend on Saturday, May 4th, Lubbock is looking to become the 6th city or locality in Texas to try and decriminalize the possession of a small amount of cannabis. Ordinances have passed in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Denton, and Elgin with upwards of 70% in favor in each vote, but have yet to have meaningful implications, as Texas’s Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued to block them from going into effect.  What does all that mean for Proposition A in Lubbock? And how might preemption–where the overarching law of a state overrules a local ordinance or law–factor into its fate?  Texas Tribune Reporter Jayme Lozano joins to bring us the story on the ground, while Ballotpedia Marquee Staff Writer Joel Williams shares how preemption conflicts work when it comes to marijuana specifically.  More on Lubbock Proposition A: https://ballotpedia.org/Lubbock,_Texas,_Proposition_A,_Marijuana_Decriminalization_Initiative_(May_2024)  Read Jayme’s reporting: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/08/lubbock-texas-decriminalize-marijuana-ken-paxton/  How do Preemption Conflicts work?: https://ballotpedia.org/Preemption_conflicts_between_state_and_local_governments  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) just released its biennial update of the Elections Performance Index (E.P.I.) for 2022, and it brought exciting news about the state of American elections: Over the past decade, the EPI has charted the steady improvement of virtually every state in how elections are administered.  Professor Charles Stewart–director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, which publishes the E.P.I.–joins On the Ballot to break down the report, shed light on the states who improved the most in the past decade and those who still have room to grow, and, to lay out what this all means for the public perception of election administration. Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. Check out the E.P.I.’s latest report: https://elections-blog.mit.edu/articles/elections-performance-index-charts-decades-progress-election-administration  Learn more about Professor Stewart’s work: https://polisci.mit.edu/people/charles-stewart-iii  Use BP’S Election Admin legislation tracker: https://ballotpedia.org/About_Ballotpedia%27s_Election_Administration_Legislation_Tracker   Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act–more commonly referred to by its acronym, the REINS Act–is a bill that could cause major changes to the federal rule-making process if it passes into law. If passed, it would require legislative approval of agency regulations with certain financial or economic impacts before the regulations become effective. But what’s that process look like currently, and what are the arguments for and against changing how it works? Ballotpedia Policy Staff Writer Molly Byrne joins the show for our latest breakdown of the administrative state. Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. Learn more: https://ballotpedia.org/REINS_Act Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: Most public school K-12 students in the U.S. attend a school based primarily on their residential address–and that dividing line can often determine the quality of the public education available to them. These boundaries link public education to the many facets of family residential decisions, including wealth, ethnicity, social connection, employment, and status. Ballotpedia’s director of research Josh Altic joins the show to unpack the findings from our in-depth investigation, drawing from a sample of 45 school districts across 17 states.  Learn more about the research project here: https://ballotpedia.org/School_district_open_enrollment_and_attendance_zone_drawing_policies_in_a_selection_of_districts  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.