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Welcome to the Thursday, April 23, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Coronavirus update:
- 39 states have closed schools for in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year
- Local Roundup
- More state legislative incumbents face primary challenges in 2020 than 2018
Updates on stories related to the coronavirus outbreak are current through Wednesday afternoon. Click here for the latest news.
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Coronavirus update: 39 states have closed schools for in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year
Since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, school districts around the country have closed buildings and sent students, faculty, and staff home. As of Wednesday, school districts in all 50 states have paused in-person instruction. Thirty-nine states have taken the additional step of closing schools for in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year.
Ballotpedia has tracked 18 school closure announcements since April 16. When we refer to school closures, we mean a school closing for in-person instruction. Many school districts have continued instruction online, although we are not actively tracking which ones.
New Jersey, New York, and Maryland extended their school closures through May 15.
Fifteen states closed schools through the remainder of the school year:
- Colorado
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- Ohio
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
At least 41,886,725 students attend schools in states that have ended in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year. Of the remaining 11 states, Ballotpedia has not identified any that have publicly expressed indication of a possibility of re-opening.
Here are some other notable coronavirus-related updates since Wednesday's Brew:
- A National Institutes of Health panel released guidance concluding that there was not enough data on several different drugs (including hydroxychloroquine) to allow for their use outside of clinical trials when paired with antibiotics.
- Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) announced he would not extend the state’s stay-at-home order, which is set to expire on April 24. He said that a phased reopening of businesses would begin on April 26. He also said he would rescind the statewide school closure order on May 7, but individual districts would be allowed to decide whether to reopen for in-person instruction.
- Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) announced that some businesses could begin reopening as early as April 27. Social distancing requirements, however, will remain in effect until further notice. He also extended international and out-of-state travel restrictions through May 19.
- Arkansas Voters First, proponents of a redistricting commission initiative, filed a lawsuit seeking relief from certain signature petition requirements, such as in-person signature, witness, and notary requirements.
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Local Roundup
Last Friday, Ballotpedia hosted our first-ever Volunteer Day. We are extremely grateful to the 108 people who registered to help us collect local government responses to the coronavirus pandemic. To date, our volunteer community has collected over 600+ responses to the coronavirus crisis.
Volunteers ranging from high school students to retirees came together as a community to help us begin building a central resource of this information for our readers. We conducted research, shared playlists, and talked about new hobbies we’ve picked up since social distancing began.
At Ballotpedia, we are continuing our efforts to track these responses, as well as opening up new volunteer projects in the months ahead. If you are interested in joining us for our next Volunteer Day of Service or interested in ongoing volunteer opportunities, please reach out to [email protected].
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More state legislative incumbents face primary challenges in 2020 than 2018
Our elections team recently updated an analysis of the candidates who filed for state legislature in the states whose deadlines have passed. In these 25 states where filing deadlines have passed:
- There are fewer open seats and contested primaries in 2020 compared to 2018.
- More incumbents are facing primary challenges this year.
The table below provides an overview of the data we have so far and compares it to 2018 numbers.
The next table gives an overview of open seats, incumbents facing primaries, and total primaries in both 2018 and 2020.
On November 3, 2020, 1,164 state senate seats and 4,711 state house seats are up for regular election across 86 chambers in 44 states. There is a Republican majority in 52 chambers, a Democratic majority in 33, and a power-sharing agreement in the Alaska House.
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The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns.
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