Introduction
Provisional ballots are meant to be a failsafe for voters, who are required to cast them when their eligibility is in question. But such ballots require extra steps to ensure they’re counted, increasing the odds they ultimately won’t be.
In Ohio, provisional ballot use is among the highest in the nation, according to data tracked by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and a new report finds trends there moving in the wrong direction.
Investigations in your inbox
Email address
A slightly increased percentage of in-person voters in Ohio cast provisional ballots in 2020 compared to 2016, the report found. Counties with a higher percentage of Black and brown residents and young voters had elevated provisional ballot use, a finding in keeping with national trends, while it was lower in counties with higher median incomes.
Northampton PD takes pledge to boost the number of women in its ranks
Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Northampton Police Station GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Published: 4/30/2021 8:56:47 AM
NORTHAMPTON The Police Department is the first in the state to sign on to an initiative designed to recruit more women into policing across the country, a move that its chief hopes will help the department better reflect the community it serves.
The pledge, known as the 30x30 Initiative, aims to make women 30% of police recruits in 2030. Northampton joins more than 50 other departments nationwide to sign on to the pledge, which comes from the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives and the New York University School of Law Policing Project .
One hundred million Americans have received their second of two shots or a one-shot vaccine, representing significant progress in the fight against COVID-19, White House officials said Friday. That s 100 million Americans with a sense of relief and peace of mind, knowing that after a long and hard year, they re protected from the virus, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said.
Zients said the next phase of the nation s vaccine program will focus on harder-to-reach Americans. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy emphasized the need to combat vaccine hesitancy and build confidence in vaccines. This is one of these all-hands-on-deck moments, Murthy said, adding vaccinated people should encourage their family and friends to do so, too.