A good report about how the federal SCAAP program feeds data into ICE deportation machine. Some quotes from me about how we analyzed it in Wisconsin.
Daniel Nichanian. Editor in chief of @boltsmag.org (follow us!). Elections, (local) politics, voting rights, criminal justice, and drag race.
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A good report about how the federal SCAAP program feeds data into ICE deportation machine. Some quotes from me about how we analyzed it in Wisconsin.
This November?
for people living many other places… this is probably a program where you live too
for Oakland residents: what’s being done in your county
A ballot measure in Maine that would add new restrictions on mail voting would have an outsize effect in this state, where the average age is the highest of any state in the country and there is a high incidence of disability.
Photo passed along from a federal employee from inside the Dept of Labor building, where a giant Orwellian image of Trump's face is now draped outside. Big Brother is watching.
Lorelei Cloud was born 3 years before Native Americans living on tribal lands in Colorado were guaranteed the right to vote. She is now vice chair of the Southern Ute Tribe. “I don’t want future generations to have to deal with any of what we’ve had to.”
Pope Leo XIV met with one of the most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. The Rev. James Martin said Leo told him that he intended to continue Pope Francis’ policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
Federal agents in DC have been starting dangerous car cases for small stuff like tinted windows. The chases violate DC police policy. Out of 10 cases, six ended in a crash. One car had a minor in back. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
how Mitchell describes the prior system that Trump wants to bring back: "You had Black folks being cycled through in shackles. You had prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges speaking really quickly. We had people haggling about money. And again, the hearings would last about a minute."
When Philly’s reform DA Larry Krasner defeated challenger Pat Dugan in the May Democratic primary, it looked like he’d have no November foe. But Dugan is still running: He’ll be on the fall ballot as the GOP nominee.
He might as well issue an Executive Order that says votes cast for Democratic candidates won't be counted.
Note that voter ID tends to do well when put to voters… but sometimes it hasn’t: boltsmag.org/arizona-reje...
A piece from me a few months ago on what voter ID (when issued by state lawmakers) looks like in practice: boltsmag.org/indiana-bann...
Trump said tonight he is going to issue an executive order purporting to require enforcement of voter ID rules: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u... The president has no such authority to order how elections are conducted.
Ah, how was the experience of the exhibition? Apparently the movie is a different (and shorter) cut of the exhibition segments.
I realize all this sounds a bit like a fever dream.
Also, those were were the creepiest puppets I've ever seen. For those for whom this'll mean something, the funeral dada scene, the alien ballet scene, & the Jim Jarmush classroom scene were real highlights.
Totally real!
Have people seen the movie Manifesto, where Cate Blanchett recites manifestos about art for 90 minutes? An odd one but parts of it are visually stunning, and (old news I know, but I just watched her for that long) but her screen presence is so captivating.
My small subscription to Bolts is WELL worth it!
“We’re not even a voting rights advocacy organization, but we’ve had to become one.” That refrain’s going to be awfully familiar over this next stretch.
"There is a very strong organizing community in this city and in this region, and I hope that you see from our legislative leaders a desire to not live in a tyrannical state." On Chicago. boltsmag.org/chicago-publ...
Elections don't *just* matter - they are literally life & death determinants. And not just national elections - local, rubber-meets-the-road elections... like this:
No, not at all. It’s all about no one having anything close to a majority in parliament and disagreements over the debt and budget.
Le Pen can’t run personally indeed but the stakes of that are more for the presidential election of 2027 (unless Macron resigns early)
(You’ll remember Macron stunned everyone by dissolving the Assembly in June of 2024 for no reasons whatsoever. It took a lot of alliances and strategic voting, fire against Macron’s wishes, for the left and center parties to prevent the far-right from winning — but the chamber ended up very split.)
The thing is: Macron, the president, has to decide whether to call early elections. And the collapse of his bloc to just 13.5% implies he could face a wipeout. So that really suggests he’ll try everything to not call elections. But the political crisis could escalate enough he feeels compelled to.
Big Qs here are if left manages to ally again as it did in 2024 (definitely will be tricky), & if Macron’s party & the conservatives (who have been governing together) ally. The whole R1 stakes is to see who makes it to runoffs to face the far-right, which would be in a position to win again.
As a national poll of what’s a two-round system per district, it’s hard to project. But here’s what the poll shows: The leading far-right party at 31%. The Left Bloc’s two halves at 16.5% & at 10%. Macron’s party at just 13.5%. And the traditional conservatives at 10%.
People who followed me in mid-2024 already know I follow French elections very closely; and it’s possible there may be new parliamentary elections this fall as the government is about to collapse next week. So we just got a first poll of a possible election… and it’s predictably messy. (1/?)
It's pretty clear that the state's Dem Party put more effort in defeating India Walton in 2021, than in finding a challenger to this GOP sheriff.
Buffalo is the site of a human rights crisis — a constant stream of deaths in the local jails. The sheriff who oversees it (a Republican in a Harris-voting county) is up for reelection this year, but he is running entirely unopposed. We report here—don't look away from these spaces.
If you want a broader article on WHY these matter… rather than the more technical state-by-state guide…: here’s the accompanying article! boltsmag.org/what-to-know...
State supreme courts are so important right now. We put together a guide of every single high court: it answers 20 questions for each state! Crucial resource for people who care or work on this!
A Maine ballot measure restricting mail voting could have an outsize effect on older folks. “We’re not even a voting rights advocacy organization, but we’ve had to become one,” says the director of the Maine Council on Aging.
Few people have a greater degree of influence or more direct control over your local #criminaljustice system than your elected #DistrictAttorney. These #elections define so much about who we are as a country. Thank you, @boltsmag.org for pulling this info together. boltsmag.org/2025-prosecu...
Thank you for sharing!
A Democratic candidate for prosecutor in Virginia wants lawmakers to ban ICE agents from operating while masked or while concealing their identities; she says she’d then prosecute those who don’t comply.
big news out of Missouri
don't sleep on what's happening in prosecutor races!
"We are well suited to resist this. We have the experience of fighting misinformation around 2023. There is a very strong organizing community in this city and in this region... ... and I hope that you see from our legislative leaders a desire to not live in a tyrannical state."
Though it's not really overstated since it specifically says "Democratic-appointed justice" rather than "Democratic justice"
thanks :)
Conservatives in Maine have placed a measure on the Maine ballot *this* November that'd restrict the ease of voting in a lot of ways,most notably, with new barriers to voting by mail. (The rules would be in place by next year's key Senate race) boltsmag.org/maine-questi...
People discovering me through this thread since it was uplifted... ... welcome to lots of coverage of local politics & democracy! ... make sure to follow @boltsmag.org too! we have a cool newsletter where you'll learn a lot: boltsmag.org/newsletter
I follow @taniel.bsky.social for his excellent state level analysis on elections
A Michigan Republican justice retired earlier this year, to be replaced by the Democratic governor, & comparatively so much less!
I'm convinced Wisconsin's supreme court gets more attention than all other state supreme courts combined. A justice announced she won't seek reelection in 9 months and we have dozens of articles pop up in one hour. What other state would get this?
For those who are new to the Wisconsin supreme court, a reminder of the high-profile race that liberals won in April: boltsmag.org/wisconsin-su...
Bradley says she is retiring because being on the court is not "the best path to rebuild the conservative movement," which feels like quite a thing to say outloud as a sitting judge. (Though not surprising.)
More retirement news: Conservative Wisconsin justice Rebecca Bradley will NOT seek reelection next spring. Liberals (as you all know now) have a 4-3 majority on this high-stakes supreme court. This is their shot to go up 5-2, in April.
Credit to @the-downballot.com's amazing tracking for those legislative shifts!
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is not seeking reelection in 2026: www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/p... Iowa swung hard to the right starting in 2016, but the 3 special elections that have happened in Iowa so far in 2025 have swung toward Dems by 22, 24, & 26 percentage points. Two seats have flipped blue.
Chicago's chief public defender on what bail hearings looked like before Illinois abolished cash bail a few years ago. if you missed it: Trump is now blackmailing Illinois to end this reform or lose federal funds. boltsmag.org/chicago-publ...
![What were the motivations for Illinois ending cash bail? Back when it required cash payments pretrial release, what were the effects? When I worked on criminal justice policy, one thing I would do sometimes is court watching: I would take concerned members of the community to 26th and California [a courthouse], and we would watch court. And it was always fascinating to see people who were not lawyers; the way some people described it, it looked kind of like a slave auction. You had Black folks being cycled through in shackles. You had prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges speaking really quickly. We had people haggling about money. And again, the hearings would last about a minute.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7vj2towokzui3hgna5u5u46f/bafkreie7atqwqa6e52kdsts3kjgsuojydagf4fewbuh46b7pyrddury724@jpeg "Click to view full size")
NEW: Trump this week issued an order to withhold federal funds from cities & states that restrict the use of cash bail. Illinois has fully ended cash bail, & Chicago's public defender responds to Trump: 'this is tyranny 101." He explains why cash bail was a disaster. Well worth reading:
So, New Hampshire's only Democratic-appointed justice is retiring. Ayotte has nominated his replacement, a lawyer with ties to GOP politics. www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025...
There will be a crucial voting rights referendum on the ballot in Maine this November in what will be the first true test in Trump's war on mail voting. EVERYONE IN MAINE needs to be made aware of 'Question 1'. Here is a @boltsmag.org deep dive on the subject. boltsmag.org/maine-questi...
NEW — Black organizers and elected leaders gathered today to denounce Trump’s threats to send military forces to Chicago. They are developing a 30-day emergency response plan, which includes establishing mutual aid hubs and Know Your Rights training sessions. thetriibe.com/2025/08/blac...
Evanston has confirmed that it is deactivating its Flock ALPRs after many reports IL police were illegally sharing data with ICE and other federal agencies. content.govdelivery.com/accounts/ILE...
for freelance reporters!
Maine has a very accessible election procedure and it shows: the state is always one of the highest for turnout. That's wht he R's want to restrict voting. I've volunteered in every presidential election for 40+ years and most state-level, and got qualified to handle absentee ballots.
Maine has the oldest population of any state and a high rate of disability. Question 1, on the November ballot, figures to make voting (especially by mail) much harder for many, and particularly for older folks and people with disabilities. New in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/maine-questi...
Maybe I'm blinkered, but shouldn't mail-in ballots be postage paid? Isn't requiring a stamp technically a poll tax?
Michael Broadway died from an asthma attack on a scorching day inside an Illinois prison. Witnesses said a nurse didn't want to climb the stairs to his cell. A friend in a nearby cell put it plainly: “staff in these prisons DO NOT see us as human beings.”
Bolts is always seeking to work with freelancers to report on critical voting rights and criminal justice stories across the United States. If you have a story that you think would fit Bolts, here is how to pitch us:
A brand new email I woke up to this morning: "I’d like to pitch a story for Bolts on how county jail policies in [County/State] are quietly disenfranchising legally eligible voters."
Essential deep dive into an under-the-radar, but important, election this fall in Maine.
🚨Border Patrol arrested two firefighters who were actively fighting a wildfire at the time. When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”
This is the coalition fighting to protect mail voting in Maine: it’s formed in the context of the upcoming ballot measure that’d kneecap that option. We covered the fight today at Bolts: boltsmag.org/maine-questi...
Manhattan’s Democratic DA, Alvin Bragg, brought Donald Trump to trial last year. This fall he faces two challengers who oppose his policies to reduce jail time and low-level prosecutions.
More info down in the thread!
Here's what the third day of elementary school looked like in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC.
Maine folks, take note.
it's very frustrating!
I long had no idea what is going on here, but lately there's been some news about several publications retracting articles they'd published upon suspicion that there were AI written. So clearly there's a cottage industry of fake pitches where people presumably expect to be paid? Very odd.
At Bolts, we are sometimes submerged with evidently fake pitches from evidently fake writers, where the email is evidently written entirely by AI. One email we just got includes the sentence: "This story is locally grounded in [specific county or city]."
@burness.bsky.social reports on how this would greatly affect people with disabilities and older voters. My favorite quote: boltsmag.org/maine-questi...
NEW: Conservatives in Maine have placed a measure on the Maine *this* November that'd restrict the ease of voting in a lot of ways — notably, with new barriers to voting by mail. (The rules would be in place by next year's key Senate race.) Learn more:
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in December granted clemency to three incarcerated women who were survivors of abuse. Lauren Gill reports on the long advocacy that went into his decision:
Arizona's new law allows property owners to request a refund if they claim that homeless people have caused costs to them. But not all cities are responding by penalizing homeless people. In South Tucson, the city council is fighting back with measures to expand support for them.
Two former police chiefs ran for mayor in August. Both lost. In fact, neither even made the runoff. In Detroit, James Craig (the only Republican in the race & a frequent fixture on Fox News during the BLM protests) got 5%. In Mobile, tonight, Paul Prine finished third, a year after he was fired.
UPDATE: The fist batch of results have the GOP candidate leading 54% to 46%. This is over 53K votes already; roughly 59K were cast in the June primary, so I wouldn't expect a ton more—this is looking like a GOP hold.
Krasner is facing a Democrat-turned-Republican-nominee in the general election *this* November, btw. (boltsmag.org/2025-prosecu...)
Election night isn't over yet: there's also a special election in California. This (state Assembly) district is even redder than the Iowa one, and looked harder to flip for Dems based on the primary results, but polls just closed & we'll have early returns soon enough.
The four IA specials this year have been in eastern Iowa and western Iowa; rural Iowa and urban Iowa; Dem districts and Republican districts. And they've all seen very similar overperformances: 22, 24, 25 & 26 points. This is not good news for the GOP's hopes of holding #IAGov & #IASen.
Folks, my usual election night post: if you appreciate our coverage of these local elections at Bolts, … consider becoming a donor or subscriber to support it! boltsmag.org/donate … & even if it’s not the right time for that, sign up for our free newsletter to be informed: boltsmag.org/newsletter
Woodbury County, the Iowa county in which district that flipped tonight is entirely located, split roughly evenly in the 2008 & 2012 presidential races. Then, huge swing: Trump won it by 17% in 2016 & 23% in 2024. The district, about half of county, swung 21% to Dems today compared to last year.
Argh, my apologies for the typos in the first post: Her name is Catelin Drey, and Democrats flipped a state Senate SEAT. (My sense is this is clear enough from the context and people’s replies… but I can delete if that feels unclear.)
More context here… bsky.app/profile/tani...
NEW RESULT: Democrats have flipped a state Senate in Iowa. This was a seat Trump carried by 11%, but Democratic nominee Catherine Drey has just won it by 10.4%. This is the second legislative flip by Dems in Iowa this year. It also means the GOP loses its supermajority in Iowa’s senate.
More info here: bsky.app/profile/tani...
Democrat Barbara Drummond & Republican Spiro Cheriogotis will face off in late September.
ELECTION RESULT from Alabama: Paul Prine, the former police chief of Mobile who was fired last year while facing a damning report about his department’s use of force against Black residents, has lost the mayoral race. He came in third, and will not move forward to the September runoff.
Bartiste withdrew in June!
RETURNS: it’s a very close race for the second runoff spot in Mobile. Drummond, the only Dem in the race, is ahead with 34% of the vote with half of vote in. For the second spot, the conservative former police chief, Prine, is at 23%, right behind Republican Cheriogotis 24%.
The first public poll of Ohio’s Senate race is from Emerson, and it has has Sherrod Brown, now a challenger rather than incumbent, down 6%. Vivek leads a governor’s race by 10. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/08/26/o...
I feel like I haven’t had to keep an eye on election returns from Alabama since that night in 2017, arguably the wildest election night / result in the last decade
this is a 🔥 quote from a local city councilor in Arizona who faced, *and survived,* a recall effort for lifting up mutual aid efforts rather than policing