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New Data Tracks Polling Place Locations for 37 States
Read more: Barriers to the Ballot Box The Center for Public Integrity is releasing a dataset of polling place locations used in the 2020 general election to help journalists and researchers analyze access to the ballot box and the potential effects of a slew of changes to state election laws. The data expands an earlier release […]
After Historic Early Voting Surge, Fewer Hiccups on Election Day
POMEROY, Pa. — In Chester County, a hotly contested Philadelphia suburb, Republicans and Democrats agreed on one thing: the need to help voters find their polling place after the county sent a last-minute notification listing an incorrect location. Barbara Skowood, the Republican committee person for the Valley South precinct, posted laminated signs and made dozens […]
How One Rural County Struggles to Find Polling Places
Read more: Barriers to the Ballot Box When she talks to friends and neighbors about voting on Election Day, Ophelia Gould-Faison likes to offer a bit of advice: “Bring your patience, your meds. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Bring a chair. And wear Depends.” Gould-Faison’s precinct in Littleton, North Carolina, has been combined with another nearby one […]
Wealthy Donors Spend Big to Expand Voting Access
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect title for Christian Grose. He is an associate professor. Read more: Barriers to the Ballot Box. Poll worker training doesn’t usually involve a call to do 200 push-ups. It also doesn’t usually involve Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Let’s pump it up!” the actor, businessman, former professional bodybuilder […]
Election Officials Prepare for Voter Intimidation Threat
Read more: Barriers to the Ballot Box. Election officials across the country have begun reviewing security plans at early and Election Day voting sites, strengthening ties with local law enforcement and training poll workers to prepare for voter intimidation tactics. Even before the presidential debate, when President Donald Trump urged his supporters to “go into the […]
How One Tribe Is Fighting to Vote Early
Read more: Barriers to the Ballot Box. For the past two years, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe has lobbied unsuccessfully for the restoration of the sole early voting site on its reservation in the western reaches of Tucson, Arizona. The coronavirus pandemic, with its disproportionate and devastating effect on Native Americans, is adding urgency to the tribe’s […]
National Data Release Sheds Light On Past Polling Place Changes
The first installment of a new national data release that will help journalists and researchers analyze polling place accessibility was released Tuesday as part of an investigative series, Barriers to the Ballot Box, from The Center for Public Integrity and Stateline. The data, posted to Github, includes polling place locations and addresses for 30 states […]
First Came the Floods. Then Came the Polling Place Changes.
Read more: Barriers to the Ballot Box. When historic floods overwhelmed East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, in August 2016, Jacqueline Mims’ house on Sherwood Street escaped the rising waters. It was “kind of like on a little island of slight elevation,” she said, while some streets in her neighborhood were navigable only by boat. Among […]
Running an Election in a Pandemic, in 10 Steps
RELATED: Barriers to the Ballot Box When the pandemic hit and more than a thousand of Madison, Wisconsin’s usual poll workers backed out of working the April primary, City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl needed replacements who were available to work late, had customer service skills and knew how to assess a photo ID. Coincidentally, her office also […]