The Thicket at State Legislatures

You can Find any Occupation you Want among America’s Legislators

By Martyanne Donovan

What do a train conductor, an inventor, a jewelry designer, and an Eskimo whaler have in common? They are all part of 2013's new class of freshmen legislators. The group brings a diverse background, a variety of experience, and a good set of skills to their respective statehouses after spending years of service in their communities.

Blanket toss in Barrow from Wikipedia

Alaska Representative Benjamin Nageak (D), an Inupiat (Eskimo) from Barrow, is a whaler. He and his fellow shipmates fish the mammal during the spring in a boat made from whale skins. Once caught, they skin the whale and freeze the meat until June when the Eskimo community celebrates a "Nalukataq" or feast. The entire community is invited to partake in the meal and day-long events, including "blanket tossing" using the whale skin.

Wyoming State Representative, Lee Filer (D), is a conductor for Union Pacific and a transportation technician for the 153^rd Airlift Squadron.

Karin Housley (R), a newly elected Minnesota senator and her husband, Phil, a former NHL player, are part-owners of the Lumberyard Hockey & Sports Training Facility in Stillwater.

Oklahoma Representative Bobby Cleveland (R), has manufactured all kinds of things including refurbished golf balls. Cleveland is also an inventor, holding two patents and more than 10 trademarks.

Before her leadership service, Georgia's Representative, Valencia Stovall helped with the day-to-day operations for the 1996 Olympic Games, events for the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks and the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Additionally, Stovall helped manage the U2 and Rolling Stones concerts.

Vermont Representative, Cindy Humiston Weed created pinewood toys several years before switching her career to jewelry design. Weed still uses wood products for her pieces; she was featured in 1992's edition of Fine Woodworking's Design Book #6.

Arkansas' Representative Micah Neal (R), is a restaurateur. He worked for years at his family-owned eatery, Neals Café in the famous "pink" building in Springdale. Neals Café was listed in Southern Living in 2004 as one of the best places in the country to eat fried chicken. Their fried pickles also come highly recommended.

Before joining the legislature, Washington's Representative, Gael Tarleton (D), worked for a Fortune 500 company managing two subsidiaries in Russia. She helped lead nuclear waste clean-up in the country and assisted in rebuilding Russia after the fall of communism.

If you know of a legislator with an interesting background or career, please tell us.

Jan Goehring, Friend and Colleague

By Karl Kurtz

NCSL and the state legislative and civic education communities mourn the death of Janet Buxton Goehring, NCSL staffer and great advocate for state legislatures through her work with the Trust for Representative Democracy. She died on March 4, 2013, at age 55.

Jan received a B.A. degree from Stanford University and a J.D. from the University of Denver. Before joining NCSL, she was a federal judicial clerk and an assistant city attorney in Denver and Santa Clara County, Calif., focusing on child abuse and neglect, domestic violence and juvenile cases.

She first came to NCSL in 1996 and worked as a policy analyst on transportation issues. Her legal training and writing skills stood her in good stead as a smart analyst of complex policy issues for state legislators and legislative staff.

In 1999, Jan began working with me to establish NCSL's Trust for Representative Democracy, a public education and outreach program designed to improve public understanding of state legislatures and Congress. Jan led the creation of the flagship program of the Trust, the America's Legislators Back to School program that encourages all state legislators to go into schools and teach about what it's like to be a lawmaker. Together we built a multi-media curriculum for age groups ranging from second grade to adults around the theme, "Representative democracy works, not perfectly but better than any conceivable alternative form of government."

Jan recruited, trained and managed a remarkable network of legislative staff in all 50 states who serve as Back to School program coordinators, aiding legislators in connecting with schools, students and classrooms. The Back to School program relies on the volunteer contributions of the coordinators, and Jan was invaluable in supporting and organizing their work. The program has reached more than 2 million students.

Jan and I had a great partnership. I had ideas, concepts and strategies. She had action, discipline, practicality, and a get-it-done approach. She also had great suggestions about what would work in the classroom and with students through her own experiences with young people.

Jan was a prolific contributor to The Thicket, authoring more than 100 posts on the Trust, civic education and Arizona politics (her state liaison responsibility).

Alan Rosenthal, the Rutgers University political scientist who helped inspire the creation of the Trust for Representative Democracy, said Jan was a "wonderful person who touched many lives. She was collaborative, supportive and easy to work with. The greatest way we can honor her memory is to continue her work in improving public understanding of representative democracy."

March 6 update: Lee Hamilton, director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University, former member of Congress and a partner in our work on education about representative democracy, said, "We admired and enjoyed the creativity and congeniality that Jan brought to every task. She believed strongly that the future of our representative democracy hinges on young people understanding government and participating constructively in politics. Connecting with each new generation of Americans and inspiring them to be active, informed citizens--that was Jan's passion."

During her year-long battle with cancer, Jan wrote a blog about her experience with this dreadful disease. Hundreds of her friends, family and colleagues in the state legislative and civic education communities followed and supported her travails through her blog and were inspired by her faith, strength and love.

She leaves her husband, Jeff, and son, Daniel. Her family has also posted a Jan's Celebrationn of Life website.

Farewell, Jan. We miss you.

The Invention of Voting Machines

By Wendy Underhill

The lead story in NCSL’s elections newsletter, The Canvass, is entitled, “Online Voting: Not Ready for Prime Time?”  It’s about how advocates would like to see more R & D on Internet voting as a way to make it easier for military voters to cast their ballots—and have them count. Other advocates say research is fine, but let’s not get the cart before the horse—for now, Internet voting is not secure. 

In writing about Internet voting, I sought out historical parallels, and that led me to investigate the introduction of gear-and-lever voting machines. 

Jacob H. Myers, a maker of safes, received a series of patents beginning in 1889 for gear-and-lever technology.  He is often cited as saying that his mechanical system would "protect mechanically the voter from rascaldom, and make the process of casting the ballot perfectly plain, simple and secret."  This system debuted in 1892, and continued in use into the 21st century.

PBS’s Newshour posted an article some time ago about the history of voting technology, and here’s an excerpt about Myers’ machines: 

Mechanical lever vote-counting machines, like the one Myers invented, used a rotary device similar to a car's odometer, and eliminated the need for paper ballots. These machines kept a running tally of each vote. Myers and supporters who promoted the new system argued that once the counting process started, human hands could not easily influence the count.

Mechanical lever machines were first used in Rochester, New York in 1892. By the mid-20th century, most localities in the United States used the mechanical lever machines.

Mechanical vote-counting machines, however, had their own weaknesses. Like all things mechanical, they were vulnerable to internal breakdown. Moreover, if a machine broke down, it was not always clear when the malfunction occurred, causing uncertainty during the final vote count.

A person with enough technical know-how could also tamper with the machines and affect the tally. If an election's validity was questioned, lever machines left no record of an individual voter's intent, making a vote-by-vote recount impossible.

The point: any new technology is bound to produce a few glitches.

For more on the history of voting technology, enjoy the online exhibit, The Machinery of Democracy, from the Smithsonian and procon.org’s Historical Timeline: Electronic Voting Machines and Related Voting Technology.

The States and the State of the Union

By Jon Kuhl

Throughout President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, he touched on several policy areas where NCSL has played an active role in advancing the interests of the states. The president also spoke about a number of areas where states have led the way. Below are excerpts from the president’s speech followed by information on how NCSL has been active on the issue and information summarizing state action on the issue.

NCSL is pleased to note that both President Obama and Senator Marco Rubio, who gave the Republican response, are former state legislators. President Obama served in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 until 2004, and Senator Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2009. During his last two years in the Florida House, Senator Rubio served as Speaker.

Immigration

Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants.  And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. 

Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my Administration has already made – putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history, and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years. 

Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship – a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally. 

And real reform means fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting periods, reduce bureaucracy, and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy.

In other words, we know what needs to be done.  As we speak, bipartisan groups in both chambers are working diligently to draft a bill, and I applaud their efforts.  Now let’s get this done.  Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away.

As a result of the federal government’s inaction on this issue, states have been forced to pick up the tab and responsibility. In the last five years, states have considered thousands of bills related to immigration – over 2,500 in the last two years alone. States have a stake in the outcome of the immigration debate and through NCSL are asking Congress to join with them in supporting comprehensive immigration reform that includes assistance to states for the multitude of services they provide for immigrants.

On Jan. 28, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, referred to as the “gang of eight,” unveiled a four-page “framework” for comprehensive immigration reform legislation, to be introduced in late-March. Since then, NCSL’s Washington office has met with the offices of several of the eight senators and is working to ensure that states are seen as important stakeholders in the process.

High-Quality Preschool

Legislatures Rethinking Schools as Polling Places

By Wendy Underhill

Photo by Daphne P. Hsu/The City Project

The blog, The Election Academy, by Doug Chapin addressed the use of schools as polling places on February 4. Chapin wonders if we'll see fewer schools used as polling places, as a safety measure in the post-Sandy Hook era. He notes that an election official in Cumberland County, Penn., considered relocating polling places out of schools (In the end, only one polling place was moved.) 

Chapin's analysis is this:

Moves like these are significant both because of the prevalence of school-based precincts as well as--at least up to now—widespread acceptance of the practice. Moreover, schools provide space for elections at no extra charge to taxpayers. In addition, we now know that any change in polling places can create confusion and cost the local election office time and money to implement the change.

While the Cumberland example highlighted action taken by an election official, legislators are taking action as well. So far this year, bills that relate to schools as polling places have been filed in at least three states including: Indiana, New York and Virginia. Other states, such as New Jersey, are likely to follow suit if history serves as a guide.

Legislative objectives include:

• Not permitting schools to be used at all (Indiana HB 1244, New York AB 2036, Virginia HB 2204)
• Permitting schools to be used only if the governing body of the school affirmatively adopts a policy to do so (Indiana HB 1156)
• Allowing schools to close on Election Day (New York AB 662,)
• Prohibiting certain sex offenders from voting at schools, while permitting them to vote by absentee ballot (New York AB 3037)
• Requiring schools that serve as polling places to have a written security plan (New Jersey SB 997, from a 2012 bill).

While Sandy Hook may provide a strong incentive for this kind of legislation, schools-as-polling-place legislation is not new. For instance, New York Assemblymember Bill Reilich (R) has been pushing AB 662 for several years. He says, "I'm looking to protect the children."

While security is a pressing concern, it's not easy to "just say no" to schools. For some election administrators, including Brian Newby, who writes a blog about his experiences, finding free polling places is one of the hardest parts of the job. Read his "War on Polling Places" piece to get the feel for it.

Social Media 2012: A Look Back

By Pam Greenberg

For many of us, the end of the year is a time for reflecting. Here are some social media statistics from the past year that may interest legislative junkies.

Social Media Overall ¹
• 60% of all Americans use social networking sites (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+ or Twitter)
• 69% of U.S. Internet users use social networking sites (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+ or Twitter)

Top U.S. Social Networks ²
1. Facebook
2. Blogger
3. Twitter
4. Wordpress
5. LinkedIn
6. Pinterest
7. Google+
8. Tumblr
9. MySpace
10. Wikia

Political Demographics of U.S. Social Media Users ¹
• Republicans: 65% use social networking sites / 12% use Twitter
• Independents: 71% use social networking sites / 18% use Twitter
• Democrats: 71% use social networking sites / 18% use Twitter

Election 2012 Discussion
• Facebook tracked 71.7 million election-related mentions made by users within the U.S., more mentions than the 2012 Super Bowl or the San Francisco Giants’ win in the World Series. ³
• Twitter saw more than 20 million tweets about Election Day in 2012, making the election the most tweeted-about event in U.S. political history (the first tweet was sent in March 2006) ⁴

Election 2012 Online Viewing ⁵
• 46% of registered voters who use the Internet watched previously-recorded videos of candidate speeches.
• 39% watch informational videos online that explain a political issue.
• 36% of registered voters who use the Internet watched political ads.
• 20% of registered voters used social media to let others know that they voted.

Number of Legislative Caucuses or Offices Using Social Media ⁶
Facebook (Caucus): 110
Facebook (Nonpartisan legislature, chamber, or office/agency): 17
Twitter (Caucus):109
Twitter ((Nonpartisan legislature, chamber, or office/agency): 51

Sources:
¹ Social Media and Political Engagement, Pew Internet & American Life Project
² Social Media Report 2012, Nielsen
³ 2012 Election Activity on Facebook, Facebook
⁴ Twitter Government, Twitter
⁵ Online Political Videos and Campaign 2012, Pew Internet & American Life Project
⁶ Legislative Social Media Sites, December 2012, NCSL

 

Top States for Back to School Program, 2011-12

Each year, NCSL's Trust for Representative Democracy collects information about how many legislators participated in the America's Legislators Back to School Program the previous school year. The program encourages legislators to visit classrooms and bring civics to life for students all across the country. About 1,200 state lawmakers participated in the program. The charts below show the top legislatures and chambers for 2010-11. Congratulations to the Massachusetts Utah and Virginia senates for obtaining 100 percent participation! tied for the state with the highest percentage of legislators participating. Utah and Virgnia topped the list when both chambers are combined.

Thanks to all the great legislative staff coordinators in the states who make the America's Legislators Back to School Program possible.

Top House	Top Senate
Utah – 95%	Utah/Massachusetts/Virginia –100%
Virginia – 75%	Louisiana – 95%
Mississippi – 55%	Kansas – 83%
Nevada – 50%	Mississippi – 61%
Wyoming – 37%	Nevada – 57%
North Carolina – 25%	Wyoming – 47%
Massachusetts – 24%	New Jersey – 30%
Washington – 24%	Iowa – 28%

History-Making Ballot Measures Pass Throughout Country

By Jon Kuhl

Voters made history in dramatic fashion, passing groundbreaking measures to legalize marijuana use and approve same-sex marriage on a day when 174 ballot measures were considered by the electorates of 38 states. That was the most since 2006 when 204 measures were on ballots.

In many states, ballots were quite long on Election Day, with voters in Alabama, California and Florida deciding on 11 statewide measures ranging  from implementation of the Affordable Care Act to same-sex marriage.

Of the 42 citizen initiatives on the ballot, voters approved 17. They rejected 23, and two remain too close to call at press time. In the 2000–2010 decade, voters approved 44.9% of all initiatives on the ballot. Of the 40 that are decided so far, 42.5% have been approved. That’s slightly below average and is subject to change as the results on these last two measures firm up.

"With a few notable exceptions, voters had a more negative view of ballot measures than usual this year,” said Jennie Drage Bowser, elections policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).  “Two big exceptions were the issues of same-sex marriage, where voters in three states broke new ground by voting to legalize it, and drug policy, with Colorado and Washington voters agreeing to legalize marijuana.”

There were 12 popular referenda on the ballot this year, the highest number since 1920 when there were also 12. The popular referendum, available in 23 states, allows citizens to put a new law on hold and let voters decide its ultimate fate. Six of the 12 popular referenda were approved. Nearly all of the legislative moves vetoed by voters centered on labor – in Idaho, Michigan and South Dakota, attempts by the legislature to reduce the influence of teachers’ unions were rejected by voters. This includes a rejection of Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law, a provision that would have allowed state-appointed emergency managers to terminate public employee contracts and collective bargaining agreements.

Of the 115 measures referred by state legislatures, voters approved 87 and rejected 25. Three remain undecided. Between 2000 and 2010, voters approved 85.7% of legislative referenda on the ballot. Setting aside the three undecided measures, voters have approved 77.7% of the 112 legislative referenda we have results for at this time.

Voters rejected all three proposed constitutional conventions that were on ballots this Election Day.

How Key Issues Fared:

Same-Sex Marriage
Same-sex marriage initiatives were on the ballots in four states this election. While close, all three ballot measures in Maryland, Washington and Maine passed and a constitutional amendment in Minnesota defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman was defeated. Since 1998, all but one of the 35 statewide votes held on same-sex marriage were to restrict marriage between one man and one woman. The exception was Arizona, where voters rejected a ban on same-sex marriage in 2006, but later approved one in 2008. With 32 states having restricted marriage to opposite sex couples, this is a big change in direction.

Marijuana
There were six marijuana-related initiatives on ballots this year. Colorado and Washington made drug-law history Tuesday when voters in both states approved measures to legalize and control recreational marijuana use. Voters in Oregon rejected a similar measure. Voters in Massachusetts approved the legalization of medical marijuana but the Arkansas electorate turned down a similar bill. Arkansas would have been the first southern state to adopt medical marijuana. Montana voters rubber-stamped the legislature’s move to impose additional regulations on an existing medical marijuana program.

Affordable Care Act
Four out of five states voted approved legislative measures blocking implementation of the Affordable Care Act. These states included Alabama, Missouri, Montana and Wyoming. Going in the opposite direction, Florida voters voted against exempting their state from the Affordable Care Act. Voters in Arizona, Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma have approved similar measures during the past two years; Colorado voters rejected one in 2010.

Education
The so-called DREAM Act passed in Maryland. The measure provides in-state tuition rates for unauthorized immigrants who graduate from a high school within the state. Idaho and South Dakota voters have rejected the legislatures’ attempts to reduce the influence of teachers’ unions. These questions came in the form of four popular referenda – voter attempts to veto actions by the legislature. Voters approved California Governor Brown’s Proposition 30, temporarily raising both state sales and income taxes for high-income earners. The revenue will help fund K-12 education and community colleges and balance the state budget. California rejected a competing measure, Proposition 38.

Physician Assisted Suicide
In Massachusetts, voters were asked whether a doctor can be legally allowed to prescribe medication, at a terminally ill patient's request, to end that patient's life. With 93% of precincts reporting, it’s still too close to call.

Legislatures and Lawmakers
The Nebraska Legislature voted down two measures, one allowing members to serve one extra term beyond the current limit of two consecutive four-year terms, and another increasing legislator compensation. Voters in Alabama on the other hand voted in favor of a measure establishing a basic compensation plan for the Legislature tied to the median household income in the state. The measure restricts the Alabama Legislature from voting to raise their own compensation.

Taxes
Voters rejected most proposed tax cuts, including a new state revenue limitation in Florida and a 2/3 legislative vote for tax increases in Michigan. Most of those that were approved were symbolic, such as a prohibitionon taxing real estate transfers in Oregon (where they do not currently tax real estate transfers).

Arizona voters rejected a measure making a temporary sales tax increase permanent. It funded various education programs. South Dakota voters rejected a sales tax increase that would have been split 50/50 between K-12 education and Medicaid. Missouri voters appear to be rejecting a tobacco increase that would have sent revenue to education, while Oregon voters approved the idea of redirecting corporate “kicker,” a refund for corporate income tax revenue that is collected in excess of a state-imposed cap, to education. Instead of sending that money back to corporate taxpayers, any future refunds will go toward education.

Voter ID
Minnesota defeated a constitutional amendment requiring voters to show photo identification when they go to the polls. This is a change in direction for this issue, with voters having approved voter ID measures in Mississippi  in 2011 and Oklahoma in 2010.

Gambling
Legislators in Maryland and Rhode Island decided to let citizens decide on whether to expand casinos, and in both instances the measures passed.  A measure was also on the ballot to amend the Oregon Constitution to allow the operation of privately-owned, non-tribal casinos within the state. The measure in Oregon failed.

Citizens United/Campaign Finance
Voters in Colorado and Montana approved symbolic measures encouraging their congressional delegations to support legislation overturning the Supreme Court’s campaign finance Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission ruling.

Miscellaneous
California rejected the repeal of the death penalty and Proposition 37, which would have mandated labeling on genetically modified food.

Turning the Tables: International Observers Watch American Elections

By Wendy Underhill

On November 6, polling places may be crowded with all kinds of people. The voters, of course, are at the heart of the operation. Then there are the election workers, mostly temporary employees hired to check voters in, distribute ballots and assist voters as needed. Technicians come in and out during the day, seeing to the health of the voting equipment. Poll watchers may be on hand, watching the action to ensure that proper policies are followed. The qualifications for partisan watchers (aka poll challengers), and what they may or may not do is spelled out in state law.

And, in a tiny portion of polling places, international election observers will be on hand. Fifty teams of two observers, hailing from Europe and Central Asia, will fan out to states willing to have them. These folks are all parliamentarians or electoral experts in their own right. They come under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a 56-country international organization and the leading voice on election observation in the Northern Hemisphere.

"We are not coming to judge a result but to report about the process," says Joao Soares (MP, Portugal) who has been appointed to lead the observation mission. "The United States, and all of our 56 countries, agreed in 1990 to allow one another to observe their elections, and we look forward to seeing how the U.S. election system upholds that and other commitments to fair elections."

Will you be lucky enough to spot a rare international observer? Because they are so few and our nation is so huge, it is unlikely. There's another reason, too: only a select few states explicitly make mention of international election observers in statute: Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota, plus the District of Columbia. Other states may permit international observers on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis.

For more information on election observer teams—both to the U. S. and to many, many other countries—see NCSL's 7-minute video with Neil Simon, communications director for the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly.

Related post: "International Observers not Welcome Everywhere"

New Report Shows Little Testing of Civic Education

By Karen Shanton

Coke or Pepsi. Red Sox or Yankees. Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks. Americans may not all agree about much. According to a 2004 study conducted by NCSL's Trust for Representative Democracy, the Center for Civic Education, the Center on Congress at Indiana University and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, however, there's at least one area of near-consensus: the importance of civic education. From Classroom to Citizen: American Attitudes on Civic Education found that a whopping 91% of Americans consider civic education programs in public schools important for maintaining a healthy democracy.

To that end, a recent report from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) has both good and bad news. The good news is that all 50 states (and the District of Columbia) require some civics education. Less promising is the finding that just eight states have a standardized, state-designed civics/American history test and only two of them – Ohio and Virginia – require students to pass the test to graduate from high school.

Classroom hours and student study time are limited resources and, as CIRCLE Director Peter Levine points out, "both students and teachers know that they must focus on what is tested." Without 'high-stakes' tests (tests that are required for graduation), subjects drop to the bottom of the priority list.

Of course, testing alone is not enough to create an educated citizenry. The Trust for Representative Democracy, CIRCLE and the U.S. Department of Education all argue for hands-on training in civic skills – as promoted by programs like We the People, Project Citizen and Legislative Youth Advisory Councils and resources like the American Democracy Game and iCivics – alongside instruction in the factual nuts and bolts of government. Still, ensuring that civics is viewed as a priority is an important first step toward a more civics-savvy, politically-engaged citizenry.

Karen Shanton is a public fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies on assignment to NCSL for two years.