Javier Milei Wins Presidential Election in Argentina
On November 19, 2023, Javier Milei was elected the new president of Argentina. He won close to 56 percent of the votes in a run-off against the economy minister Sergio Massa. Massa won only 44 percent of the vote. This result was unexpected, and Milei’s victory came as a surprise to many, as he is […]
Questions Raised After Tinubu’s Presidential Election Victory in Nigeria
On February 25, 2023, Bola Tinubu was named winner of Nigeria’s presidential election. But Tinubu’s presidential opponents and several election observers have questioned the fairness of the results. Nigerian government officials have defended the election process. Tinubu is set to be sworn in on May 29, 2023. He will be the West African country’s fifth […]
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Afghanistan Faces Humanitarian Crisis In September 2021, President Joe Biden withdrew all American troops from Afghanistan. American soldiers had been stationed there for twenty years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The United States goals during this time were to remove the Taliban from power and encourage the formation of a stable democracy […]
North Carolina Revises Voting Laws for Felons
This week’s Election Central post takes a look at a North Carolina change in voting rights. If someone has been convicted of a felony, do you think that he or she should still have the right to vote? States vary widely when it comes to restoring voting rights to convicted felons. A case in North […]
Voting with Disabilities
This week’s Election Central post reports on the experiences of voters with disabilities in recent national elections. Usually when we talk about voter access, we think about things like the number of polling places available or whether voter ID is required. But for the estimated one in six voters who have a disability, the voting […]
The Electoral College Goes to Court
This week’s story update on Election Central thinks about the role of the Electoral College. You might never have thought about the Electoral College until the 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton despite the fact that Clinton received three million more votes than Trump did. The Electoral College is written into our […]
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Cease Fire in Idlib, Syria The deadly civil war in Syria has been going on since 2011, but it feels like forever. Is it possible that it might finally be drawing to a close? Last week, Turkey and Russia agreed to a cease-fire in Syria’s Idlib region–an area where nearly a million people have displaced […]
Smartphones: The Future of Voting?
Last week, btw took a closer look at the new use of smartphones in the Iowa caucus: for the first time ever, Iowans will be able to vote for their favorite candidate in the Democratic primary election from the comfort of their own homes, using an app on their phones. But Iowa isn’t the only […]
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Paradise, California: Six Months Later Six months ago, btw brought you the story of the devastating California Camp fire, which killed at least 85 people and destroyed thousands of structures, including homes. Eight thousand families survived the blaze, but lost their houses. Today, half a year later, roughly a thousand families in the town of […]
Candidates, Campaigns . . . and Child Care?
This week’s story update on the Election Central Web site examines how the increasing number of female political candidates is putting social pressure on the need for providing childcare for politicians on the campaign trail. Ever since Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential elections, women have become a mobilized political force […]