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Don't miss this opportunity to ask a question to an expert:

How Police Track Your Data: Send Us Your Questions What surveillance and AI technology are police using, and how is it evolving? Are local governments restricting this? Tell us what you want to know and an expert will answer you.

NEW in Bolts: What surveillance and AI technology are police using, and how is it evolving? Are local governments restricting this? Tell us what you want to know:

We’re gearing up for our next Ask Bolts Q&A and this one focuses on how digital surveillance is changing policing.

Have questions about how police track personal data? Send them our way:

boltsmag.org/how-police-t...

A really worthwhile explainer on what happened in a key Wisconsin Supreme Court election this week:

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Explore feeds today on Surf by @werd.io, @boltsmag.org, @aendra.com, @klasfeldreports.com, @alexip718.com, @spectrum.ieee.org, @rollingstone.com and @harrymccracken.com to better understand what's happening in the world.

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A New Law Voids the IDs of Transgender Kansans. It Also Threatens Their Voting Access. - Bolts Almost as soon as Kansas lawmakers passed a new law targeting transgender people in late February, state officials started invalidating some people’s driver’s licenses without warning. The law, which ...

NEW: Kansas passed an anti-trans law that has retroactively voided the existing IDs of transgender residents.

One major implication: this effectively hinders their access to the polls given the requirements in this state.

Things are escalating in states.
boltsmag.org/kansas-trans...

New Jersey Becomes the 10th State with a Law Barring Local ICE Contracts - Bolts New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday signed legislation banning local law enforcement agencies from partnering with federal immigration authorities, making it the 10th state to adopt laws t...

Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a trio of bills protecting the state's immigrants.

New Jersey is now the 10th state (and 4th in the past year) to pass legislation outlawing local law enforcement partnerships with ICE via the 287(g) program.

boltsmag.org/new-jersey-i...

The 75 Elections to Watch This March - Bolts The 2026 midterms really are starting. Five states hold all of their primaries for federal and state offices in March, and voters there face high-profile choices. They’ll decide which Democrat... Read...

Democrats tonight have flipped two legislative seat in Florida, a state Senate district in the Tampa region and the state House district that contains Mar-a-Lago.

These were two of the final races on our guide of elections to watch in March: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

All eyes on Florida (and @taniel.bsky.social's @bsky.app account, where he'll be sharing updates on tonight's legislative specials).

For in-depth elections coverage, follow @boltsmag.org, here and on Flipboard.

flipboard.com/@boltsmag

Colorado prisoners win in long fight against forced labor Plus, D.C. gears up for ranked-choice voting

In today’s newsletter: A judge orders Colorado prisons to stop using solitary confinement to force prisoners to work. Plus, many elections are happening today, and Massachusetts prisons have transferred more than 2,000 people into ICE custody since 2009.

JUST IN: Democrats flip a seat in the New Hampshire state House.

Dem Bobbi Boudman has won today’s special election, NHJournal reports.

(Boudman was the Dem nominee in 2024 & lost by 14%; Trump won here by 9%.)

This is Dems’ third legislative flip so far this year, after Texas and Arkansas.

The 75 Elections to Watch This March - Bolts The 2026 midterms really are starting. Five states hold all of their primaries for federal and state offices in March, and voters there face high-profile choices. They’ll decide which Democrat... Read...

Elections continue this Tuesday. What’s up?

—the first round to replace MTG in Georgia
—a generational battle in the Dem primary for Mississippi’s CD02
—Dems have a chance at another legislative flip in New Hampshire
—local elections in Tempe, Arizona

Details on each:

How State and Local Leaders Are Responding to ICE: Your Questions Answered - Bolts The violence of Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities across the country and the killing of protesters by federal agents have put pressure on local leaders to change their approach to... Read More

Recently, we asked for questions from readers about what local and state leaders are doing in response to the federal immigration crackdown.

Our new explainer shares some answers. Our entire team worked on this and it’s *really* worth a read:

boltsmag.org/how-state-an...

The Massachusetts Department of Correction has been fighting me for months, trying to withhold data about its collaboration with ICE.

Yesterday, I won that fight, and obtained records showing that the state has transferred more than 2,000 people into ICE custody since 2009.

A quick thread:

What we know, final edition—in 2 parts.

1. Progressives oust 3 Dems who were helping GOP in NC.
2. Dems flip legislative seat in AR.
3. Al Green + Dan Crenshaw down big.
4. #TXSen? Talarico up. GOP runoff.
5. Right holds supreme court seat in AR, but no blowout.
6. TX far-right generally strong.

JUST IN: Democrat Alex Holladay has flipped a GOP-held seat in the Arkansas state House.

The Republican governor had initially called the special election in June, but a court moved up the contest.

RESULT: Martin Moore has won the Democratic primary for district attorney in Buncombe County, North Carolina, home to the liberal enclave of Asheville. No Republican filed for this office, so he is poised to be the next DA.

Happy election day to those who celebrate!

The guide you need: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

The thread you need:

Opposition to Mega Prison Project Shapes a Local Election in Rural Arkansas - Bolts Incarceration has become a central issue in Western Arkansas, where the governor wants to build a new prison that has angered and mobilized residents.

Before Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders announced a megaprison a mile from his house, Colt Shelby hadn’t voted in 15 years.

Now he says he won't miss another election.

Ahead of Tuesday's special election, I took a look at how incarceration has become the race's biggest issue in a deeply red district.

In an Intense Election Year, New Post Office Rules Could Trip Up Voter Registration A change in how mail is postmarked could lead some voters to miss key deadlines, including voter registration. Advocates worry the people most affected will be those already facing voting barriers.

“Any mail that’s getting dropped into a blue box is not getting postmarked on the same day, and likely not on the day after either,” says the leader of a postal workers’ union.

This could have tremendous implications for voting:

Our Ode to Independent Media Flipboard is making a concerted effort to support independent publishers. Here are some we've recently onboarded

"Flipboard has been a terrific resource for the Bolts team. Its editors have helped ensure that our election guides and local politics coverage reach a wide audience that's hungry for our brand of independent journalism," says @boltsmag.org's @nobleingram.bsky.social.

flip.it/SvE7.K

A majority of the 16 U.S. states under total Democratic control now ban 287(g) partnerships with ICE. Maryland and New Mexico just joined that list, following Maine in January.

I wrote about this landscape and these new reforms in @boltsmag.org:

boltsmag.org/maryland-new...

The Feds Targeted Charlotte. Now a Local Democrat Who Helped ICE Faces Voters. - Bolts North Carolina lawmaker Carla Cunningham voted to mandate compliance with ICE, and derided immigrants on the House floor. The Democrat faces an intense March primary.

And read it in English, here:

boltsmag.org/north-caroli...

I’m so excited to see @boltsmag.org reporting in Spanish, published by the fantastic folks at @enlacelatinonc.bsky.social.

Don’t miss this story, which previews a North Carolina primary election in which one Democratic lawmaker’s support for working with ICE has raised concerns among local Dems:

"We're able to do this work, finding and bringing you stories that aren’t reported elsewhere, because of our stellar team of journalists across the country who are energized to unearth them. Thanks to their work, we’ve published critical reporting from all over since 2022: I’m proud to say Bolts has produced meaningful stories devoted to all 50 states. Just over the last year, we’ve covered the prosecution of an American Samoan community in Alaska, threats to voting rights in North Dakota, jail deaths in Texas, a state supreme court in Hawaii pushing back against the erosion of civil rights, immigration enforcement in California’s East Bay, the construction of a mega prison in Arkansas, an embattled sheriff’s office in downstate Illinois—plus much, much more."

The email we sent out today celebrating our 4th birthday at @boltsmag.org ! 🎂🎂🎂🎂

mailchi.mp/boltsmag/fou...

As I wrote later on: "Thank you for trusting us and reading us. It blows my mind every day that there are so many of you—and today your support feels very special indeed."

Inside ICE’s Only Contract with a Blue State - Bolts Luis Perez waited 53 and a half years to be freed from prison. When his day finally came, on Jan. 16, 2025, he could practically feel the warmth and quiet... Read More

Massachusetts is the only state run by Democrats that still partners with ICE. I dug into this and found that it’s had profound and very troubling consequences: at least 164 people funneled straight from state prisons to ICE since 2023 alone.

New in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/massachusett...

Support Bolts We are a nonprofit publication that covers the nuts and bolts of political change, from the local up, and we need reader support to build our journalism.

Today is Bolts’ 4th birthday! We’re proud to continue sharing our independent journalism on criminal justice, voting rights, and local politics with you all.

Want to send us a birthday present? Our nonprofit newsroom is powered by donations from readers:

A California DA charges student protesters with felonies Plus, the elections to watch in February

In this week's newsletter: California DAs charging student protesters with felonies, elections we're watching in February, and an upset in a Texas state Senate race. Plus a lot more:

mailchi.mp/boltsmag/...]

Virginia’s New Governor Ends ICE Program. Local Contracts Remain, For Now. - Bolts Abigail Spanberger left the 287(g) program, which empowered state law enforcement to detain immigrants. Will Democrats also bar local police and sheriffs from the program?

NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program.

This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.

Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.