States are tweaking voter registration laws for teenage voters and schools are busing students to the polls. Will these efforts help young people get in the habit of voting?

In states like Georgia, the push to empower the youth vote comes to fruition at a time when “every vote counts” is more than just a slogan.

New Hampshire's education commissioner nominee Frank Edelblut, a businessman, Republican and school choice proponent, has been criticized throughout the state for his lack of education experience.

The three board members, along with a resident, request that the court grant a restraining order and preliminary injunction against the state to reverse the takeover.

In a small region of Vermont, a fierce debate raged over consolidating five tiny school districts into one.

The West Virginia House of Delegates passed its version of a sweeping education omnibus bill, which would allow the state's first charter schools.

Fannie Lou Hamer, a voting rights activist, suffered unspeakable violence and intimidation at the hands of white supremacists and police. Her response: to elevate her cause by launching a long-shot campaign for the U.S. Senate

It’s a tradition that dates back more than 100 years, but have you ever wondered why? Learn more about why we cast our votes on a seemingly random weekday - and its roots in past customs. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Producer: Nicki Marko Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

In a 11-4 vote, the City Council decided to remove the 65-foot-tall monument from its location in the heart of the city

Step right up and see the spooky circus dolls—from creepy clowns to frightening fortune-tellers—in a Minnesota museum's vintage toy collection

In the Jim Crow South, activists became martyrs at the hands of white racists, all for the just cause of using the vote to fight for equality and freedom

CBC News reporter Sarah Law reports from Duluth, Minn., early Wednesday after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris to secure his second term as U.S. president.

City will wait for legal advice, staff report before voting early next year to avoid potential rights violations. While some people in the community argue Hamilton doesn't have enough shelter beds to justifiably remove encampments, others say they feel unsafe in their homes and unable to access parks.

The final election results are in for the 2024 Saskatchewan election, which received a higher vote turnout than 2020. The NDP's April ChiefCalf won Saskatoon-Westview. And Saskatchewan Party’s Ken Cheveldayoff was re-elected in Saskatoon-Willowgrove.

‘Let’s Go Design’ TV Debuts Today

Six members of the Penn State Altoona men’s golf program were voted to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference’s All-Conference team, the league office announced on Oct. 25.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has recognized Pennsylvania College of Technology for its nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that fostered high levels of student voter engagement in the 2022 midterm elections and for its commitment to ensuring that nonpartisan democratic engagement is a defining feature of campus life.

Maddie Hindman, a master of public policy student, is using her Liberal Arts education and passion for civic engagement to get out the vote.

Voting for the Jharkhand assembly elections phase 1 is being held today with 43 of the state's 81 seats up for grabs.

Voting for the Jharkhand assembly elections phase 1 is being held today with 43 of the state's 81 seats up for grabs.

Two Courts ordered Monday that Delaware’s temporary vote-by-mail law is valid and enjoined the USPS from continuing to implement operational changes that have led to nationwide service disruptions. “I’m grateful to the judges in these cases who ruled for the people and for the rule of law,” said Attorney General Jennings. “It’s unfortunate that we […]

Delaware DOJ outlines coordination on Election Protection With Delaware’s general election one week away, Attorney General Kathy Jennings is reminding the public that the Delaware Department of Justice, state and local law enforcement, and the Department of Elections will strictly enforce Delaware’s voter intimidation laws in order to ensure that Delawareans are able to vote […]

WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Tuesday released the following statement on the Christina Board of Education’s vote to approve a Memorandum of Understanding to invest in Christina’s Wilmington schools: “Thank you to the members of the Christina Board for their important vote tonight on this MOU. This is just a first step, but […]

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation voted to extend district enrollment until December 31, 2020 to any agricultural landowners who want to preserve their farms. These landowners will have the opportunity to apply for Round 25 in 2021. Farms must be enrolled in a preservation district before the landowner can submit a bid to sell an easement.

The Delaware Department of Elections is informing voters that automatically registered voters may declare their party at the State Primary Election, September 10, 2024. Delaware is a Closed Primary State, meaning that only voters affiliated with the Democratic or Republican parties may vote in their party’s Primary Election. Eligible Voters must vote at their assigned Polling Place, and Polling Places are open from 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Primary Election Day.

The Delaware Department of Elections (DOE) informs eligible Delaware residents who are not yet registered to vote in Delaware and who wish to vote in the November 5, 2024, General Election that they must register to vote on or before Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. in order to vote in the General Election.

This is the 15th installment of The Rationalist, my column for the Times of India.

It’s election season, and promises are raining down on voters like rose petals on naïve newlyweds. Earlier this week, the Congress party announced a minimum income guarantee for the poor. This Friday, the Modi government released a budget full of sops. As the days go by, the promises will get bolder, and you might feel important that so much attention is being given to you. Well, the joke is on you.

Every election, HL Mencken once said, is “an advance auction sale of stolen goods.” A bunch of competing mafias fight to rule over you for the next five years. You decide who wins, on the basis of who can bribe you better with your own money. This is an absurd situation, which I tried to express in a limerick I wrote for this page a couple of years ago:

POLITICS: A neta who loves currency notes/ Told me what his line of work denotes./ ‘It is kind of funny./ We steal people’s money/And use some of it to buy their votes.’

We’re the dupes here, and we pay far more to keep this circus going than this circus costs. It would be okay if the parties, once they came to power, provided good governance. But voters have given up on that, and now only want patronage and handouts. That leads to one of the biggest problems in Indian politics: We are stuck in an equilibrium where all good politics is bad economics, and vice versa.

For example, the minimum guarantee for the poor is good politics, because the optics are great. It’s basically Garibi Hatao: that slogan made Indira Gandhi a political juggernaut in the 1970s, at the same time that she unleashed a series of economic policies that kept millions of people in garibi for decades longer than they should have been.

This time, the Congress has released no details, and keeping it vague makes sense because I find it hard to see how it can make economic sense. Depending on how they define ‘poor’, how much income they offer and what the cost is, the plan will either be ineffective or unworkable.

The Modi government’s interim budget announced a handout for poor farmers that seemed rather pointless. Given our agricultural distress, offering a poor farmer 500 bucks a month seems almost like mockery.

Such condescending handouts solve nothing. The poor want jobs and opportunities. Those come with growth, which requires structural reforms. Structural reforms don’t sound sexy as election promises. Handouts do.

A classic example is farm loan waivers. We have reached a stage in our politics where every party has to promise them to assuage farmers, who are a strong vote bank everywhere. You can’t blame farmers for wanting them – they are a necessary anaesthetic. But no government has yet made a serious attempt at tackling the root causes of our agricultural crisis.

Why is it that Good Politics in India is always Bad Economics? Let me put forth some possible reasons. One, voters tend to think in zero-sum ways, as if the pie is fixed, and the only way to bring people out of poverty is to redistribute. The truth is that trade is a positive-sum game, and nations can only be lifted out of poverty when the whole pie grows. But this is unintuitive.

Two, Indian politics revolves around identity and patronage. The spoils of power are limited – that is indeed a zero-sum game – so you’re likely to vote for whoever can look after the interests of your in-group rather than care about the economy as a whole.

Three, voters tend to stay uninformed for good reasons, because of what Public Choice economists call Rational Ignorance. A single vote is unlikely to make a difference in an election, so why put in the effort to understand the nuances of economics and governance? Just ask, what is in it for me, and go with whatever seems to be the best answer.

Four, Politicians have a short-term horizon, geared towards winning the next election. A good policy that may take years to play out is unattractive. A policy that will win them votes in the short term is preferable.

Sadly, no Indian party has shown a willingness to aim for the long term. The Congress has produced new Gandhis, but not new ideas. And while the BJP did make some solid promises in 2014, they did not walk that talk, and have proved to be, as Arun Shourie once called them, UPA + Cow. Even the Congress is adopting the cow, in fact, so maybe the BJP will add Temple to that mix?

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” This election season, my friends, the people of India are on the menu. You have been deveined and deboned, marinated with rhetoric, seasoned with narrative – now enter the oven and vote.

The India Uncut Blog © 2010 Amit Varma. All rights reserved.
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PORT LOUIS — Mauritius incumbent prime minister Pravind Jugnauth said on Monday that his political alliance was headed for a huge defeat following Sunday's parliamentary election. "L'Alliance Lepep is heading towards a huge defeat. I have tried to do what I can for the country and the population. The population has decided to choose another team. I wish good luck to the country," Jugnauth told reporters. Voters went to the polls to elect lawmakers for the 62 seats in parliament for the next five years, from a list of 68 parties and five political alliances. Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister's post.

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu called a vote in parliament on his new government for Thursday Dec. 29, the speaker of the Knesset said on Monday, after almost two months of coalition wrangling.  Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing and religious parties won a clear victory in parliamentary elections last month, but the veteran leader has had a harder time than expected in finalizing deals with his partners.  Despite campaigning together, Netanyahu has struggled to meet the demands of his allies, who have demanded a significant slice of power in exchange for their support.   Ahead of the vote in parliament and a formal swearing in of the new government, Netanyahu will have to officially present the members of his cabinet.  Israel's longest serving prime minister has vowed to govern for all Israelis but he will head one of the most right-wing governments in the country's history with key ministries in the hands of hardliners.  Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party will have authority for police as security minister while Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party will have broad authority to allow the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.  Both oppose Palestinian statehood and support extending Israeli sovereignty into the West Bank, adding another obstacle to a two-state solution, the resolution backed by Palestinian leaders, the United States and European governments.  The finance ministry is expected to be shared by Smotrich and Aryeh Deri, from the religious Shas party, with each man serving for two years. Deri's appointment will depend on parliamentary support for a legal amendment allowing him to serve despite a conviction for tax fraud.  Liberal Israelis have also been alarmed by statements from a number of other members of coalition parties against gay rights and in favor of allowing some businesses to refuse services to people based on religious grounds.  President Isaac Herzog, the head of state who stands outside day-to-day politics, said on Sunday that any threat to the rights of Israeli citizens based on their identity or values would be counter to Israel's democratic and ethical traditions. 

[The Conversation Africa] The dramatic loss of power by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which had governed Botswana since independence in 1966, will go down in history as one of the biggest electoral upsets in Africa.

Race is central in this year's race for the White House and the struggle for racial justice and voting rights are inextricably linked.

Cases of beer were wheeled into the Capitol after the House narrowly passed a health care bill on May 4, 2017, that would repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act. Every Democrat voted no, joined by 20 Republicans.

Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition 131, which would have upended the way elections are conducted in the state and moved the state to a ranked-choice voting system.

Coloradans have rejected a proposed ban on mountain lion and bobcat hunting -- a hit for wildlife advocates who have worked to outlaw or change the practice for years.

Many fear that voters are being manipulated by political campaigns that use Facebook ads, TikTok and YouTube videos, but research reveals a more surprising story

Title: Could Your Genes Influence How You Vote?
Category: Health News
Created: 8/27/2012 4:05:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/28/2012 12:00:00 AM

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The desire of the Kurds along Iraq’s northern border to govern themselves is receiving more resistance from Iraq’s central government. Iraqi army forces are demanding Kurdish troops withdraw from oil fields and military bases around Kirkuk, a city in the Kurdistan region that voted for independence last month. Kirkuk also has 10% of Iraq’s known oil reserves. Washington Post’s Loveday Morris is in Baghdad covering this standoff joins me now via Skype. First of all the significance of this. Why is it so important?

LOVEDAY MORRIS: There’s been a longtime conflict between Baghdad and Kurdistan over these disputed territories. Most significant of which is Kirkuk because of the oil reserves. But the referendum last month has really sharpened these disputes because you have Baghdad opposing independence and so it feels like they have to restate its territorial claims these areas. So that’s why we’re seeing a lot of tension right now.

HARI SREENIVASAN: And just to give people a little bit of a brief timeline – Iraqi forces control this area for a while and then in June ISIS took over the area and now it’s kind of back in Kurdish hands?

LOVEDAY MORRIS: Right. So in June 2014 Iraq lost control of a lot of the areas and we have this huge collapse in the face of an ISIS offensive. Over 100,000 soldiers fled and Kurdish forces moved in some of these areas – some of them maybe took from ISIS and others just moved into into the vacuum. And so Iraqi forces have been in these areas since June 2014. And that’s their main demand that they return to the areas.

HARI SREENIVASAN: What’s the likelihood that this standoff right now turns violent? Into some sort of a civil war?

LOVEDAY MORRIS:: I think at this point both sides don’t want violence. Al-Abadi, the prime minister, is really trying to defuse the situation by saying there’s going to be no military attack. But at the same time there is this buildup of forces so that I think they are trying to, in a way, intimidate the Kurds to withdraw from some areas but they don’t want to see a fight per say. But in this really tense situation there can be a small spark and things can turn violent quite easily.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Thank you.

The post Iraqi, Kurdish forces in standoff, weeks after Kurdish vote for independence appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

While many states focused on issues like abortion and immigration throughout this election cycle, voters in California and Colorado approved tougher crime laws.

Whoopi Goldberg told her co-hosts Tuesday on ABC's "The View" that she agrees with Vice President Kamala Harris voters who want to avoid family members who voted for President-elect Donald Trump during the holidays.

The post Whoopi Goldberg Endorses Harris Voters Avoiding Holidays with Trump-Supporting Family — ‘It Might Not Be the Time to Gather’ appeared first on Breitbart.