1. The first votes of the general election are cast today
2. Historical data on federal aid to states 
3. Candidate connection spotlight

The first votes of the general election are cast today

The first in-person voting precincts open for business today, with two states kicking off the start of early voting season. Starting today, state statutes in Minnesota and South Dakota provide that residents can visit in-person voting sites. Five more states - Michigan, New Jersey, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming - will follow on Saturday, Sept. 19. 

Early voting permits citizens to cast ballots in-person at a polling place before an election. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia permit no-excuse early voting. Another five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington – use all-mail voting systems.

Early voting start dates range from Sept. 18 to Nov. 2. Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah have changed early voting dates or procedures due to COVID-19. To date, 38 states have modified their general election voting procedures because of the pandemic.

Our early voting resources provide you with comprehensive information on how the process works. My favorite part is the table which you can sort by state, election date, early voting start date, and early voting end date. Below is an example, or click here to try it out. 

Learn more

       

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Historical data on federal aid to states

Congress is in session this week debating legislation that may include additional federal revenue for state and local governments. Business closures and job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic have led to reduced state income and sales tax revenues. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, income and sales taxes account for 60% of state revenue. 

Three outlets—the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, the Tax Policy Center, and the Tax Foundation— estimate that state budget shortfalls resulting from lost tax revenue will total between $41 billion and $110 billion in fiscal year 2020. In FY 2021, shortfalls are projected between $121 billion and $290 billion. 

Between March and August 2020, Congress and President Trump twice appropriated federal funds to assist state and local governments with revenue shortfalls. 

We recently published an article looking at historical data on federal funding provided to states. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the data:

• As of 2019, federal funds accounted for 30.7% of total state spending.
• The number of federal programs through which federal aid is appropriated—more than 1,300 as of May 2019—tripled between the 1980s and 2020.
• The state that received the highest share of its revenue from federal funds was Montana at 46.1%. The state that received the lowest share of its revenue from federal funds was Hawaii at 20.7%.
• Between FY 2017 and FY 2019, total state spending increased at the fastest rate since the Great Recession.

To read more about federal aid to states, click the link below.

Candidate connection spotlight

Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey asks people running for office questions about what they stand for, what’s important to them, and what they want to do if elected. We designed it to help voters gain insights about their candidates as people.

We invite all candidates with a profile on Ballotpedia to complete our survey. On Fridays, we’ve been including selected responses we’ve received this cycle to certain questions.

Here’s a look at the last three survey questions we've highlighted:

• Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?
• What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
• What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

This week’s question is: What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? We received 3,856 responses so far, and here is a sample:

“Montana's public lands are our state's greatest asset. As more and more people move here, it will become harder to balance the protection of the intangible values that many people treasure with using public land resources for economic benefit. Managing public lands for future generations, in the face of climate change and more homes in the wildland urban interface will be particularly challenging. The State legislature should pass laws that better assists counties in working with their Federal agency partners on cross boundary and interagency forest management planning to minimize user conflicts and reduce the risk of wildland fires.”

-Margaret Gorski, Democratic candidate for the Montana state Senate

“One of my highest priorities is to improve our Education system. The Common Core needs more Common Sense. We need teachers with real classroom experience heading up our education system. Who better to help to fix Common Core than Common Teachers? I have spent 15 years teaching in the Elementary schools with my last 5 years in Title I services fixing all the gaps in learning from state and federal government Education programs. We need to implement some of these Title I program ideas and standards into the regular classrooms. Our team will work with other qualified classroom teachers to reevaluate how we are implementing Common Core. We need to see through the research, what is working and what is not. We need to look at excelling schools and see what they are doing differently and work on putting it into practice in our public education programs.This will give our professional educators room to tailor their teaching techniques for their individual learners.”

-Christina Fitchett-Hickson, Republican candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives

“Our justice system needs to be fixed. Any prisoners should have access to furthering their education and be able to have a higher chance to receive employment after released [sic]. With Texas having the most children in the foster system, this needs to be addressed ASAP. We must find a way to give the children a family and fix the current system. Veterans are near and dear to my heart. Proper care should be given to them. There have been strides recently to help. We should keep evolving the healthcare and process.”

-Eric Velasquez, Libertarian candidate for the Texas House of Representatives

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