CSG Capitol Ideas | Issue 3 | 2022 | Justice For All

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Civics Success Civic education is vital to a healthy democracy — and it’s for all ages.

State leaders share insights and strategies for advancing civic engagement and understanding.

Leaders Who Count Meet just a few of the secretaries of state and chief election officers who administer the nation’s foundational democratic institution.

Open Arms The states are learning from Afghan resettlement and preparing to welcome refugees from Ukraine.

Put Yourself to the Test Check your civics knowledge with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services practice test.

JUSTICE FOR ALL Michigan Chief Justice Bridget McCormack says improved civic health starts with justice reform.

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20 6 Welcoming Refugees

20 Behind the Ballot

The U.S. is expected to admit up to 100,000 refugees who have fled Ukraine. As state leaders look toward solutions, they’re also learning from the experience of Afghan resettlement.

Meet just a few of the secretaries of state and chief election officials who administer the nation’s foundational democratic institution.

10 Justice for All Michigan Chief Justice Bridget McCormack explores the interconnection of civic health, social trust, interbranch cooperation and justice reform.

12 Civics 101

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C S G W E S T U P DAT E

Civics education offerings in public schools have significantly reduced in recent decades, and civic literacy has similarly declined both among students and adults. Across the U.S., state leaders are calling for renewed attention to civic education and implementing creative strategies to engage students as active participants in democracy.

16 Civics for a Healthy State The Civic Health subcommittee of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force explores long-term and short-term policy options to increase civic education and engagement.

26 Equitable Access Learn about innovative strategies states are using to ensure voting access for voters with disabilities and military and overseas voters.

34 The U.S. Naturalization Civics Test: Can You Pass?

Test your civics knowledge with one of the best-known components of the U.S. naturalization process — the civics test.

Gov. David Ige

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WASHINGTON CSG National Chair

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NEW HAMPSHIRE CSG East Co-Chair

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Contributing CSG Staff Writers

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CARL SIMS csims@csg.org

DEXTER HORNE dhorne@csg.org

RACHEL WRIGHT rachel.wright@csg.org

Senate President Thomas Alexander SOUTH CAROLINA CSG South Chair

CSG CAPITOL IDEAS, ISSN 2152-8489, ISSUE 3, Vol. 76, No. 1 – Published five times annually by The Council of State Governments, 1776 Avenue of the States, Lexington, KY 40511-8536. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Council of State Governments nor the views of the editorial staff. Readers’ comments are welcome. Subscription rates: in the U.S., $42 per year. Single issues are available at $7 per copy. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Capitol Ideas, Sales Department, The Council of State Governments, 1776 Avenue of the States, Lexington, KY 40511-8536. Periodicals postage paid at Lexington, Ky., and additional mailing offices.

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Register for the 2022 CSG National Conference

CSG Welcomes 2022 Henry Toll Fellows The Council of State Governments will welcome the new class of Henry Toll Fellows from across the nation to CSG headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, Aug. 26-30. The intensive, five-day leadership boot camp features sessions that are designed to stimulate personal assessment and growth while providing priceless networking and relationship building opportunities. Bringing together 48 individuals representing 32 states, the Henry Toll Fellowship is the nation’s premier leadership development program for state government officials. Since 1986, the Henry Toll Fellowship has produced 1,326 graduates. Fellowship alumni include five sitting state and territorial House speakers, three sitting state supreme court justices and 10 sitting members of Congress.

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CSG Co-Hosts with NCSL in Las Vegas

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The Council of State Governments and the National Conference of State Legislators co-hosted the National Occupational Licensing Meeting at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 19-21. This meeting brought together nearly 250 leaders in occupational licensing from across the nation to discuss innovations in licensing involving some of the top professions licensed by states. CSG led sessions focused on reducing barriers to licensure for professionals, including those with criminal records, military families, teachers, health care professionals and individuals seeking apprenticeships. Additionally, CSG staff and partners discussed the importance of interstate compacts for professional licensure portability. Several compacts are currently under development from the CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts.

For more information on occupational licensing and interstate compacts, visit compacts.csg.org.

The 2022 CSG National Conference will bring together state leaders, staff and private sector partners in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 7-10, for four days of learning, networking and professional development. Legendary Hawaiian hospitality provides the perfect environment to bring state officials together to foster friendships and learn from each other. Registration, booking information and the conference agenda are available online at csg.org/hawaii. Questions about the 2022 CSG National Conference can be sent to registration@csg.org.

The CSG Justice Center Celebrates 20 years The CSG Justice Center celebrates a major milestone this summer. Twenty years ago, a group of dedicated criminal justice stakeholders and thought leaders released the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project. The report outlined 47 policy statements to guide legislators, practitioners and advocates as they work to improve responses to people with mental illnesses who have contact with the criminal justice system. Stay tuned for a special edition of CSG Capitol Ideas magazine celebrating 20 years of the Justice Center that will be published in September.

CSG Center of Innovation Hosts Post-Conference Meetings CSG East and CSG South regional conference guests attended post-conference gatherings hosted by the CSG Center of Innovation. The CSG Healthy States National Task Force met in conjunction with the CSG Southern Legislative Conference.

Task force members explored issues related to blockchain and cryptocurrency, apprenticeships, civics and telehealth. CSG East Annual Meeting attendees met with Center of Innovation policy experts to discuss the employment crisis, developing career pathways for youths with disabilities, diversity, apprenticeships and more.

THE Y T WEETED IT RETAIN Kentucky @KyRETAIN ∙ Jun 7, 2022 Thanks to @maxwellwise for meeting with our @CSGovts and @UK_HDI partners to discuss how RETAIN KY supports the workforce is his district and the state. Thank you for your time and support, Senator Wise!

Christina Haswood @HaswoodForKS ∙ Jul 10, 2022 Wichita, Kansas! Im here for the @CSGovts Midwestern Legislative Conference. Ran into my colleagues at the BILLD fellowship reception where we’ll be traveling to Milwaukee next month to get intensive training on bipartisan policy skills. #ksleg

Senator Tony Vargas @TonyVargas ∙ Jun 17, 2022 I want to continue to share more about myself: I’ve proudly served as a #Nebraska State Senator for 6 yrs. In 2020, I was awarded the Council of State Governments, “Top 20 under 40” leadership award for my bipartisan work passing key legislation helping Nebraska’s families.

Governor Laura Kelly @GovLauraKelly ∙ Jul 13, 2022 Yesterday, I joined my fellow Midwestern leaders at @CSGovts‘s annual legislative conference, which is in Wichita this year. It’s always a pleasure to share ideas and hear from others about how we can make our entire region the best that it can be.

Claire Cory @clairecorynd ∙ Jul 12, 2022 As a judiciary committee member I am excited for the policy session on the ‘Role of Mental Health Courts as an Alternative to Incarceration’ at the @CSGovts Midwest conference!

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Michelle M. Shafer @michelleshafer ∙ May 18, 2022 Fantastic tour of @RunbeckElection’s Phoenix HQ for the @FVAP/@CSGovts @CSGovts_OVI team today! OVI Program Manager @CMHockenberry, @FVAP Acting Director Scott Wiedmann (@UOCAVA), OVI’s @katyowenshubler & I are appreciative of @jeffellington88, @toniatunnell & their hospitality!

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Welcoming

Refugees States learn from previous resettlement efforts while planning for the future.

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By Trey Delida

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“There’s a lot of focus on both Afghan and Ukrainian refugees right now, but we are getting refugees from all over the world all the time. We want to make sure that they all feel welcome here and that they are our new neighbors.”

– PENNSYLVANIA STATE SEN. LINDSEY WILLIAMS

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t the start of 2022, the number of people fleeing persecution, violence and oppression reached an all-time high with 26.6 million refugees in the world — the highest population of forcibly displaced individuals ever recorded.

As political uncertainty remains amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, states are preparing resources to accommodate those seeking resettlement. As state leaders look toward solutions, they’re also learning from the Afghan refugee response.

The U.S. is expected to admit up to 100,000 refugees who have fled Ukraine. As a result, states and partnering organizations will have to find ways to accommodate for this major influx.

LEARNING FROM AFGHAN RESETTLEMENT The United States’ Afghan resettlement efforts exposed several gaps in our nation’s evacuee infrastructure. Thousands of Afghan refugees arrived in the U.S. without approved visas, making access to federal assistance programs impossible. This vast relocation overwhelmed the government’s resettlement system, forcing refugees to be housed in short-term rental spaces while awaiting affordable housing.

The Biden administration announced a program that would streamline the refugee application process, but would no longer allow entry to those who come through the Mexican border. Called Uniting for Ukraine, the program requires asylum seekers to have a sponsor and proof of complete vaccinations and to pass a background check. Most applicants will receive two years of residency and work authorization in the United States. Those coming through the formal refugee process will be granted permanent legal residency. In the past, the application process would

REFUGEE RESOURCES IN THE STATES In the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine, states are improving on existing refugee resources or, in some cases, developing entirely new systems.

States are establishing offices dedicated to refugee services, securing funds to expend resources for refugees and enlisting the help of nonprofits to assist with demands.

Oregon lawmakers took steps to aid refugees through Senate Bill-778, which approved the creation of the state’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement. The new office received $1.3 million in funding and will connect people with statewide resources for immigrants and refugees.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown appointed Toc Soneoulay-Gillespie to lead the new office in March. Soneoulay-Gillespie, who previously served as director of refugee resettlement at Catholic Charities, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. Her family — originally from Laos — came to the U.S. shortly after the Vietnam War. When Oregon began accepting refugees from Afghanistan, budget cuts and infrastructure changes forced some immigrant and refugee agencies to shut down. Since assuming her position, Soneoulay-Gillespie believes that it is a good time to reevaluate local refugee resettlement infrastructures.

“This office is a milestone,” she said. “I think there’s an opportunity to really assess what is working well within the refugee resettlement structure and what are all the other possibilities that we can lean into, especially now, when our legislature and our state are interested and invested in welcoming people from all over the world.”

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At the core of this issue is an overwhelmed system that was not built to withstand large influxes of people at one time. The Afghan resettlement was the nation’s largest relocation effort since 1975, when the U.S. welcomed thousands of refugees from Vietnam. The projected number of Ukrainian refugees is greater than that of Afghan refugees in 2021.

have begun in a refugee’s home country. In this case, that is no longer possible since U.S. diplomats were pulled from Ukraine. To compensate, the State Department plans to expand the new program’s resettlement operations throughout Eastern Europe.

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“There's no way refugee resettlement agencies can do this work without working in tandem with community-based organizations along with faith groups”

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- T OC SONEOULAY-GILLESPIE Office of Immigrant and Refugee Management | Oregon

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Since then, the formation of the new Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement has allowed Oregon to provide more dedicated resources, but Soneoulay-Gillespie thinks that more can be done, specifically when it comes to airfare loans.

The International Organization for Migration, a U.N. agency, offers one example of an airfare loan model. Refugees coming to the U.S. travel under a loan program administered by the agency. Refugees agree to repay the cost of their airline ticket over a pre-determined amount of time. The U.S. Committee for Immigrants and Refugees administers the program and oversees the repayment process.

“I love the idea,” Soneoulay-Gillespie said. “The idea is that the funding goes back to pay for other refugees’ airfare. This is the United States of America. We can do better than that. If we as a country really want refugees to be part of the workforce, the success the advancement, the fabric of this country? I know we can do it.”

“When you have family show up to welcome you to the airport, you just feel happy, right? So, we invited community members, mayors and senators to join us at the airport to welcome families,” she said. “Where I come from in Laos, we always give water. We do not ask if one wants water, because it’s our way of saying thank you for making the journey to us.”

Soneoulay-Gillespie says refugee systems need more investment and federal resources to improve and expand current services. Travel loans, naturalization fees and securing housing and employment are all still areas of improvement for case management. The current window of services for most incoming families and individuals is within the first 90 days of arrival.

“At the federal level, refugee resettlement in its most basic model covers 90 days of service. That’s it,” she said. “How can one person flee war persecution, experience trauma, come to a new country and start their life over again within 90 days? That’s going to take a much larger assessment, a much larger investment in thinking at a federal level.”

The current 90-day service model adopted by most federal agencies and states is a point of contention for policymakers and resettlement agencies alike.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Lindsey Williams introduced Senate Bill 1176, which would appropriate $2 million in state funds to aid refugee services and partnering organizations across the state while establishing the New Neighbors Fund. These funds would be awarded to the Department of Human Services Refugee Resettlement Program to disburse aid to refugee resources, including help securing short-term and long-term housing, English as a second language educational support and workforce integration.

One proposed change to the bill is an addendum for refugees to have access to federal resources for longer than the 30-day period after their arrival. Afghan refugees, for example, were able to access support from federal agencies for only one month once they arrived in the states.

Williams said that the New Neighbor Fund would extend the time during which federal dollars can be used to support refugees.

“When you’re moving to a new country, 30-90 days is too short,” Williams said. “They’re in a new area, they don’t speak the language and they don’t know the customs. So, this would extend the time that we could provide them resources and broaden the amount [of things] that money can be spent on. We really need wraparound supports for these refugees — everything like short term housing, clothing, personal care objects, things to get them situated.”

Community integration is another key focus point for policymakers. One way they are targeting that outcome is through the school system. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and the state’s Department of Education have provided guidance to schools to ensure students are transitioning as seamlessly as possible.

The department sent a letter to school communities outlining legal obligations related to enrolling refugee students and providing resources. These included requirements to provide translation and interpretation services, prompt enrollment, access to special education and language services.

According to a report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, roughly 48% of refugee children remain out of school after arrival in the U.S. For young refugees, schooling is not only vital to their development — it’s also a valuable tool for integatrating students and their families into a new community.

PARTNERING WITH NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS While enrollment in school systems is imperative for many families seeking asylum, state leaders often rely on nonprofits and other refugee service organizations.

New American Pathways, a nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia, serves refugee communities from their arrival through their citizenship confirmation, providing resources and assistance to help refugees meet their goals. Equipped with 80 employees who can converse in 21 languages, the organization’s programming targets four unique areas of growth — safety and stability, self-sufficiency, success and service.

Paedia Mixon, CEO of New American Pathways, says changes in resettlement infrastructure, budget cuts and the reduction of services surrounding resettlement were the most challenging obstacles when states began preparing for Afghan refugees.

- T OC SONEOULAY-GILLESPIE Office of Immigrant and Refugee Management | Oregon

Mixon said states can learn from the Afghan resettlement experience, and that a good rapport between state leaders and nonprofits is extremely helpful when it comes to assisting refugees.

“I think it’s really important that state leaders are aware of the refugee resettlement agencies in their state and have good communication and a close working relationship,” Mixon said. “I think one of the things that we do well in Georgia is that agencies collaborate with each other. We meet regularly with the State Refugee Coordinator and State Refugee Health Coordinator.”

Georgia’s Coalition of Refugee Stakeholders allows for coordination among state and nonprofit organizations. The coalition is a collaborative body of resettlement agencies and other refugee and immigrant service organizations in the state. They organize a quarterly consultation meeting, inviting government officials, nonprofit representatives and community members to hear input, provide updates and share resources. This partnership has opened the door for state agencies and nonprofits to share important, timely refugee information in an ever-changing climate. State organizations can provide additional assistance to these communities Other states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon and others, have a similar model through the Office of New Americans. As a network of states, the Office of New Americans brings together state policy leaders to discuss immigration best practices. Participating states share research and policy ideas and have access to additional resources from partners like World Education Services and New American Economy.

Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980, the U.S. has admitted more than 3.1 million refugees from across the world. As the number of displaced individuals continues to rise, the United States’ stance on accepting refugees is strongly reinforced in a statement from President Biden: “At a time when the number of refugees and other displaced persons has reached an alarming and historic high — more than 82 million worldwide — the United States has a moral obligation to ensure that refugees have access to life-saving care, opportunities to pursue an education, and livelihoods that allow them to live with dignity and hope for the future,” Biden said.

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In Oregon, state leaders and resettlement agencies work closely with Refugee Care Collective, a small nonprofit that compiles welcome kits filled with household items, cleaning supplies, personal care items and more for incoming refugees.

“How can one person flee war persecution, experience trauma, come to a new country and start their life over again within 90 days? That’s going to take a much larger assessment, a much larger investment in thinking at a federal level.”

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JUSTICE for A L L

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Michigan Chief Justice Bridget McCormack says civic health begins with justice reform.

By Joel Sams

Serving as co-chair of a jail and pretrial task force in 2019, Michigan Chief Justice Bridget McCormack had a problem to solve: what was behind the increasing number of people in the state’s county jails?

What she discovered was a series of legislative decisions that criminalize certain behaviors, like driving with a suspended license. Those decisions were made in good faith, McCormack says, but they came with unintended consequences.

“Once [those decisions] were made, officers had to make arrests … and they made those arrests in good faith following the law,” she said.

“Prosecutors charged those crimes in good faith; judges, in good faith, set bail, and all of a sudden, before we knew it, our jail populations were full of people who couldn't afford to pay fines and fees and were driving with a suspended license as a result of it.”

These policies didn’t just lead to an increase in jail populations. McCormack says they also failed to work as intended. “There's now lots of really good research that shows [this approach] doesn't, in fact, make our communities safer or stronger,” she said.

McCormack, who was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 2012, also serves as co-chair of the Human Health subcommittee of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force her experience illustrates the unique

perspective judges have on what’s working — and what isn’t — in the justice system. Civic health, she says, begins with a justice system that works for everyone and the judiciary needs a seat at the table.

“As direct witnesses to the daily experiences of people navigating legal problems, judges have critical information about what reforms are needed, as well as ideas on how such reforms can be implemented,” she wrote in a 2021 article published in the Yale Law Journal. “Indeed, some failed criminal-justice reform efforts arguably failed because they lacked sufficient input from judges; when legislatures and executives act without the perspective of the judiciary, judges often find themselves administering laws with unintended consequences.”

One of those unintended consequences could be a loss of trust in the justice system, and in democratic institutions more broadly. This is why McCormack situates justice reform at the center of civic health. The rule of law depends on public confidence that justice is being upheld and when people feel like they’re not being treated fairly, trust is broken.

“If people think the justice system is not fair to them, that it's only fair to some people and not other people, why would we expect them to to vote?” she said. “Why would we expect them to show up and sympathetically engage with counterargument?”

Lack of trust in the justice system doesn’t just discourage people from civic engagement. It also drives polarization.

We want sympathetic engagement with counterargument among this wonderfully diverse country we've built, but if big portions of it feel like its crown jewel doesn't work for them, that's a huge barrier to getting everybody at the table.

“We want sympathetic engagement with counterargument among this wonderfully diverse country we've built, but if big portions of it feel like its crown jewel doesn't work for them, that's a huge barrier to getting everybody at the table,” she said.

The task force McCormack co-chaired in Michigan learned that jail populations were expanding for preventable reasons, and the involvement of the judicial branch was an important part of the task force’s success.

McCormack has a long list of justice reforms she’d like to see, but two rise to the top: democratizing justice access and investing in better data collection. The language of law is dense, difficult to understand and nearly impossible to navigate without professional help. But how can justice be equal when not everyone can afford a lawyer?

“Lawyers don't scale, so we're not going to get a lawyer for every single justice problem, but we can find lots of other ways to get people

“Lawyers have kept a stranglehold on this profession,” she said. “And it's time we reform that.”

Data is another issue at the top of McCormack’s reform list. The public should be able to see and understand what’s happening in their justice system, but McCormack says many courts aren’t even collecting that data, let alone making it easy to access.

“That's no way to run a railroad,” McCormack said. “The public should know what it is that happens in their justice system. They should be able to see it. They should be able to see it so they can understand it. And it will either reveal to all of us that there are things we might want to tweak or if not, it will give us confidence.”

G E T to K N O W

Justice McCormack What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

My favorite thing to do is ride my bike in northern Michigan between Lake Leelanau and Northport — the rolling hills through vineyards with views of Lake Michigan on one side and Grand Traverse Bay on the other side. It’s a transformative bike ride.

What are you reading?

“Joy, Inc.” by Richard Sheridan.

He runs a software company — it’s actually based here in Ann Arbor — that does its work really uniquely, and it’s about how they run their business.

Who’s your greatest inspiration?

Over the last couple of years, the treatment court judges in my state have been a real source of inspiration because, through really difficult times, they’ve managed to continue to knock it out of the park by providing tremendous healing to the people and families and communities they serve.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?

Make sure you’re doing what you love.

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“Go interview any district court judge in Michigan, and she can tell you who's filling up her county jail and the large number of people who are there who probably don't need to be there, and probably could be showing up for work and paying their child support and taking care of their family if they were somewhere else,” McCormack said. “[Judges] have a story to tell that nobody else does.”

help and information,” she said. In the medical world, McCormack points out, not every problem requires a surgeon. Some medical issues can be addressed by a physician’s assistant; sometimes telehealth can provide a cheap and accessible option. In the same way, she says, access to justice information can and should be democratized.

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Civics 101 ISSUE 3 2022 | CSG CAPITOL IDEAS

State leaders share perspectives on civic education for a healthy democracy. By Joel Sams

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When Kirsten Baesler was just four years old, she started attending public meetings with her father, who served on a local planning and zoning commission. From an early age, she learned how local decisions are made and the difference everyday citizens can make in the political process. It changed the trajectory of her life.

“We start far, far too late in educating students about civics, and we do it in a way that is that is unexciting to them, irrelevant to them,” Baesler said. “Civics and civics education is too often a passive approach, a passive exercise, when in fact, it's probably one of the most engaging things that our students can do. And that's how it should be taught.”

Now serving as state school superintendent and administrator of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Baesler oversees the education of nearly 120,000 students across her state. She’s passionate about helping students understand that civic engagement can begin long before they’re old enough to vote.

Civics education offerings in public schools have been significantly reduced in recent decades. Civic literacy has similarly declined both among students and adults, according to the State Civic Education Toolkit published by CSG and the Education Commission of the States.

Across the U.S., state leaders like Baesler are calling for renewed attention to civic education and implementing creative strategies to engage students as active participants in democracy.

NORTH DAKOTA The longest-serving secretary of education in the country, Baesler was elected to her statewide post in 2012. In 2018, North Dakota updated its social studies curriculum to require, for the first time, an independent strand of civics education, beginning in kindergarten.

One of Baesler’s goals is to help students understand that civics is bigger than a far-off obligation to vote when they turn 18, and to help them see themselves as participants in democracy, not passive bystanders.

In North Dakota, civics education begins in kindergarten, just as kids begin to experience a classroom setting and learn about responsibilities to the larger group. As they progress through the grades, students learn about local, state and federal government, and Baesler says it’s important to back up the classroom learning with real experience.

“As they're learning about third grade city government, they should be attending city commission meetings, they should be attending county commission meetings,” she said. “They should be finding out how they can be involved in making their city a better place.”

Baesler says civics education is one way to help the next generation see themselves as contributors to democracy rather than consumers. Unfortunately, efforts around civics education sometimes focus on the priorities of adults rather than allowing young people to address issues that matter to them. The most promising examples she’s seen, in contrast, come from teachers who serve as facilitators, encouraging students to identify important issues for themselves. In one example, students identified a need for device charging stations at a public pool.

“Kids have become dependent on their cell phones or their Apple watches to communicate with their parents on their location, and just to stay connected, and we're running a community pool that did not have charging stations,” Baesler said.

After they had identified a need in their community, the students worked with their city commission and local parks and recreation board to create solar-powered charging stations.

When it comes to educating young people about civics and engaging them in government, Baesler says the solution is simpler than the grown-ups realize.

“Adults overcomplicate things,” she said. “When we hear civics education and civic engagement, we immediately go to big people issues and big people problems. … We forget that young people really make it less complicated and much more simple in their mind — solving simple, basic, relevant challenges in their life. They're learning to be contributors instead of just consumers.”

The State Civic Education Toolkit helps you accomplish the following:

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Assess the current status of civic education policy in your state, higher education system, school district or institution and identify strategic opportunities for improvement.

Understand and communicate the historic obligation of public education to develop citizens.

Understand and explain the poor status of civic learning outcomes for students and the implications for our country and future.

Increase civic learning about states and local governments and increase individuals’ propensities for engagement at these levels of government.

Identify and develop civic education supporters and coalitions.

Inform development of civic education policies.

Identify resources to guide and support civic education advocacy efforts.

Click here to view and download the full report.

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“That is a perfect example — and there are hundreds more of those that are out there — where young people have been given the opportunity to identify a problem or a need, and then become citizens, working with their local governments and working their way through not only through construction permits but also, ‘How do we build that?’” Baesler said.

The State Civic Education Toolkit is a comprehensive report by CSG and the Education Commission of the States that details the context and challenges around public civics education, policy examples from the states and tools to implement civics education reform.

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23% 18% 27%

of eighth graders attained proficient status in civics. of eighth graders attained proficient status in U.S. history. of eighth graders attained proficient status in geography.

U.S. teachers often only receive one single American government course that is federally focused, and they aren’t taught about state governments.

NEW JERSEY New Jersey state Sen. Vin Gopal was teaching a government class at Monmouth University as an adjunct professor when a student, Zach Dougherty, brought up an idea to get more young people involved in civics. The idea turned into a framework, which turned into a bill that passed the New Jersey General Assembly and Senate with bipartisan support and was signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in January.

Gopal sponsored Senate Bill 3164, which created the New Jersey Legislative Youth Council to provide youth with a forum to participate in the democratic process, offer their unique perspectives to the legislature on issues affecting young people in New Jersey and advise the legislature on policies, programs and services that could serve youth in the state.

The council is comprised of 40 members of the public, ages 15-23, who have been appointed by their legislators. Additionally, four members of the New Jersey legislature serve on the council as advisors.

Specific issues the council will consider include civics education, substance abuse, health, workforce, environmental protection, gun violence and school safety, homelessness and poverty, sexual harassment and violence, youth services, youth bias and hate crimes and more.

Gopal hopes the council will lead to increased understanding of and involvement in politics and government. Even among adults, he frequently finds himself explaining the difference between U.S. senators and state senators, the three branches of government and the basic processes of law that state leaders often take for granted.

“Everyone has a different role,” he said. “There are a lot of layers of government, but I think having folks understand that is extremely helpful for a strong, representative democracy.”

One thing young people and adults alike misunderstand, Gopal says, is the amount of power that’s concentrated in local and state decision-making. Opening students’ eyes to the importance of government beyond Washington, D.C. is time well spent.

“I always tell people if you can give me five minutes with the President of the United States, any president, or five minutes with a local mayor or school board member, I'm going to take the local mayor or school board member because we might actually try to look at some local policies and we can actually get a change,” he said.

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WASHINGTON

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In a recent survey, only 36% of respondents could name all 3 branches of government.

35% COULDN'T NAME ANY. ANNEBURG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER

Civic education can also shape and re-frame how students understand the story of the United States.

Washington state Sen. Christine Rolfes was a legislative sponsor behind the creation of a now-required curriculum, Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State.

Passed in 2015, Senate Bill 5433 requires schools to teach the history, culture and government of Washington’s 29 federally-recognized tribes. Rolfes says the legislation came about as a response to concerns expressed by Puget Sound tribes, specifically the Muckleshoot.

“The tribal elected leaders were frustrated with the lack of knowledge that the average Washingtonian had about, not just their history, but their legal standing — what their treaty rights were related to fishing and traditional hunting grounds and why they are allowed to have casinos, and all of the different rules that are a result of having a treaty with the federal government,” she said.

I always tell people if you can give me five minutes with the President of the United States, any president, or five minutes with a local mayor or school board member, I'm going to take the local mayor or school board member because we might actually try to look at some local policies and we can actually get a change.”

— New Jersey Sen. Vin Gopal

their culture? What did they eat? How did they live? And then the brief period of time where the families were torn apart with the boarding schools, for example, or how the reservations were formed — that part of the history is part of the larger story or the larger context of teaching the cultural significance of Native American tribes.”

Rolfes says the curriculum and legislation were primarily a result of listening to constituents and responding to their needs.

Like Baesler and Gopal, Rolfes says it’s important to take civics beyond the classroom, and that real-world experience should be part of curriculum design.

“It was listening, understanding and responding,” she said. “In that particular instance, the senators of both parties recognized the problem and the opportunity.”

Part of a comprehensive civic education is being honest about history — both the good and the bad, Rolfes says. In Washington, that means teaching students the full scope of tribal history and culture.

“Starting from time immemorial, they were here,” she said. “What was

“Civics has to be real life,” she said. “It needs to include volunteering in your community or writing to your local legislator with a policy proposal.

Students have to be engaged. Just teaching them the three branches of government and that elections happen locally in odd years and nationally in even years — that's just not good enough. It's the actual engagement where the lifelong lessons come from.”D

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The Muckleshoot tribal council advanced the idea to take a curriculum already being developed by various tribes and make it a required component of K-12 education in the state. Their hope was to address the problem at its source, equipping the rising generation with a well-developed understanding of tribal history and rights.

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Civics

for a Healthy State

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Leaders explore long- and shortterm policy options through the Civic Health subcommittee of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force.

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By Dexter Horne, Carl Sims and Rachel Wright

The Civic Health subcommittee of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force is exploring how states can improve civic discourse and participation through immediate-term actions by state leaders and long-term investments in civic education.

The subcommittee is part of a larger initiative — the 2021-22 CSG Healthy States National Task Force. A bipartisan working group of state leaders from all three branches of government, the task force is working to provide resources and recommendations for state governments on how to best address current state challenges, including those resulting from and intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supported by CSG staff and other subject matter experts, the task force focuses on four key policy areas to provide states a holistic policy strategy for their shared challenges. In addition to civic health, the national task force is exploring infrastructures related to fiscal health, workforce and economic health and human health. Click here to learn more about the 2021-22 CSG Healthy States National Task Force.

Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson and Delaware state Sen. Bryan Townsend, who co-chair the national task force, say civic health represents a basic building block of a free society. Without a minimum understanding of how government works, or their role in it, citizens will not be able to fulfill their obligations to each other — or to the future.

“A fundamental tenet of our democratic republic is that an educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people; therefore, to be civically healthy it is imperative that our citizens understand how our system of government operates so they can best engage and hold accountable the government they elect,” Watson said.

For Townsend, civic health is built on the faith citizens have in one another and in their institutions of government. Consequently, he says it’s vitally important that people — elected leaders and citizens alike — learn ways to disagree without becoming “toxically disagreeable.”

“Civic health is the measure of how well we have adopted such an approach, building the necessary systems and culture of using them,” he said. “Without it, our disagreements will consume us and the potential of America.”

Considerations for Leaders

“The committee itself is comprised of elected officials with diverse roles representing both major political parties, and the diversity of political background and experience has deepened the conversations about what the health of our civic institutions can look like if we truly engage with one another,” she said. “It’s been fascinating to find that sometimes we agree on principles but not on word choices. Breaking through that initial resistance to try to find shared understanding is really important. We’re in a dangerous moment for our democracy, and finding a path forward is going to require dialogue, especially when it’s difficult.”

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The Civic Health subcommittee addresses foundational questions around building healthy and resilient democratic institutions and advancing civic education. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who co-chairs the subcommittee with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, says she is most excited by the subcommittee’s meaningful and civil engagement across party lines.

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Subcommittee members have suggested that leaders can improve public trust in government institutions and improve civic discourse by utilizing the capacity and profile of their office. In particular, state leaders may consider the following: • Proactively combatting misinformation and disinformation as it is occurring. Additionally, and to help in that effort, state leaders should have strong social media presences and post regularly, even outside of major events like elections, to build legitimacy and maintain a steady stream of reliable civic information.

• Working on one’s emotional intelligence to make bipartisan solutions more possible.

• Recognizing how humans respond organically to context, structure and signals and require a feeling of safety for difficult conversations.

• Creating discourse among differing groups by establishing values and a vision. Ask participants: “What do we want to be true of the place where we live?”

Subcommittee members say these actions can be complemented by long-term investments in K-12 civic education. Evidence suggests a connection between civic education and civic engagement. According to a 2011 report titled, “Guardian of Democracy: The Civic Mission of Schools,” students who receive high-quality education are more likely to “understand public issues, view political engagement as a means of addressing communal challenges, and participate in civic activities.”

Current challenges to a robust civic education framework include the following: • A 2020 poll from the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey found that only 51% of Americans polled could name all three branches of government.

• The federal government invests five cents per student for civics, but $54 per student for science, technology, engineering and math.

• Student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Civics is stagnant, with civic knowledge and skills spread inequitably by race/ethnicity.

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States can also consider how civic education must celebrate the country’s accomplishments while acknowledging the country’s difficult history and its difficult present. Improvements to a civic education frame-

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A fundamental tenet of our democratic republic is that an educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people; therefore, to be civically healthy it is imperative that our citizens understand how our system of government operates so they can best engage and hold accountable the government they elect.

— Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson

work may include greater funding for civic education, strengthening course requirements and assessments, reforming education standards and curriculum and enhancing accountability.

Civic health presents a number of areas where state leaders can come together to collaborate to build civic engagement. For Bellows, one of the most promising areas is election access and voting rights.

“I think it’s important that we continue to find ways to get back to a place where strengthening and protecting voting rights for all American citizens is a shared goal for all state leaders,” she said. “Civic health ultimately depends upon a healthy democracy where every citizen has equal access to exercise their constitutional rights to register to vote, cast their ballot and have their vote be counted. Regardless of who we are or where we come from, everything else we care about depends upon that.”

Townsend and Watson both identify the unique opportunity — and responsibility — states have in advancing civic health.

“A principle of a democratic republican form of government is that the government that governs closest to the people, governs best; therefore, the states, in our federal system of government, have the primary duty and responsibility of providing civic education to their citizens since it is the states that have the most intimate relationship with their citizens,” Watson said. “In order for states to fully exercise the power afforded to them in the U.S. Constitution and to hold the federal government accountable, it is essential that states educate their citizens on how our government is structured, how it operates, how to engage it and how to hold it accountable.”

The states still remain uniquely positioned to provide a renaissance in civic health by movingly nimbly to respond to individual state-level issues and evidencing to the electorate the ability of government to respond to the people.

Such is the system design; we desperately need the states to fulfill this role.

— Delaware state Sen. Bryan Townsend

Townsend noted that, even though the national government has become dominant in the federalist system, state governments must take the lead in advancing civic health.

“As our federalist system experiences tension from this preemption, the states still remain uniquely positioned to provide a renaissance in civic health by movingly nimbly to respond to individual state-level issues and evidencing to the electorate the ability of government to respond to the people. Such is the system design; we desperately need the states to fulfill this role.”

Learn more about the Civic Health subcommittee and explore resources at: web.csg.org/csghealthystates/civic-health.

Civic Health Subcommittee Members CO-CHAIRS

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows Maine

Secretary of State Frank LaRose Ohio

MEMBERS

Justice Alisa Kelli Wise Alabama

Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday California

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton Illinois

Senior Advisor Tommy Druen Kentucky

Sen. Joan Lovely Massachussetts

Sen. Sal N. DiDomenico Massachusetts

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver New Mexico

Assemblymember Catalina Cruz New York

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea Rhode Island

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson Utah

L E A D SPON SORS Esri, Inc. Johnson & Johnson Microsoft S P ON SORS ACT, Inc. CVS Health Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Gilead Sciences Inc. PhRMA

World Education Services

Sen. Jennifer Boysko Virginia

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Western Governors University

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the Ballot ISSUE 3 2022 | CSG CAPITOL IDEAS

behind

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Meet a few of the secretaries of state and chief election officials of the states who administer the nation’s foundational democratic institution

By Joel Sams and Trey Delida

Brad Raffensperger Georgia Secretary of State

Brad Raffensperger may have a high profile in the national media, but the Georgia secretary of state’s focus is the same as when he took office in 2018 — keeping elections secure, accessible and fair in his home state.

“The challenge the president had is that we looked up and down the line to make sure that we checked out every single allegation,” Raffensperger said. “By the time we had that call with the president, we knew that the numbers were the numbers. And it was just trying to respectfully and as calmly, you know, let the president know that. ‘These are what the numbers are, sir.’ ”

He couldn’t have anticipated when he started this job how quickly challenges would come, both from the right and the left.

False claims about elections — from the right or the left — are distractions. The important thing, Raffensperger says, are that elections in Georgia are more secure and more accessible than ever before. The state has photo identification for all forms of voting, automatic voter registration and citizenship checks through the Department of Driver Services and 17 days of mandatory early voting. Raffensperger says registration rates shot up, and today the state has more than 7.5 million voters.

“When I ran in 2018, I didn’t realize that, as soon as I took office, I’d have nine lawsuits from the losing gubernatorial candidate and her allies,” Raffensperger said. “We’ve been pushing back on false election claims, really, since January of 2019.”

When he ran, Raffensperger says the issues were straightforward — Georgia was still using outdated direct recording electronic voting machines. His campaign message was based on security: the state needed to move to new voting machines with a verifiable paper ballot, and Raffensperger wanted the authority to join the electronic registration information center, known as ERIC, a collaborative tool that allows states to objectively and accurately update voter rolls.

As it turned out, however, Raffensperger encountered an elections climate that was far from ordinary.

“We didn’t expect it — I don’t think anyone could have expected it, really — looking at the scrutiny that [secretaries of state] have gone through since the recent elections,” he said.

Raffensperger says tensions around elections aren’t new. In Georgia, the problem goes back at least to 2014, and he lays blame to activist groups like the New Georgia Project, and to those who refused to accept the results of the 2016 election, as well. In 2020, Raffensperger didn’t hesitate to call out his own side of the aisle when former President Donald Trump made unfounded claims about fraud in the 2020 election.

“It just shows you that it’s easier to vote in Georgia, but we’ve struck that proper balance. Georgia is really doing a great job and we’re going to focus in on that.”

Raffensperger says trust and consensus building are two of the ways state leaders and everyday citizens can move away from election conflict and begin restoring trust in democratic institutions.

“Someone said that Eisenhower was a very effective president because he looked at where he could get 60-80% of people agreeing on an issue, and then he focused on that,” Raffensperger said. “He didn’t worry about the stuff where he knew he was going to get 20-40% or even 55%.”

Raffensperger believes that change really begins on the individual level, though. Rather than focusing on policies, he says focusing on principles and character will create pathways back from the precipice. That, and a little bit of good will.

“Luke Bryan said it best — most people are good,” Raffensperger said. “So never lose sight of that: that most Americans are good people.”

Shenna Bellows

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has served as the executive director to the Holocaust and Human Rights Center as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. She was a Maine senator for four years before being selected by the Maine Legislature to serve as secretary of state. Throughout her career, and specifically in her role as secretary, Bellows has led with the philosophy of “radical transparency,” and this election season is no different.

“Everything that we do, we share,” she said. “We have published voter information guides, we work with our local election officials to help conduct radio interviews to talk through election processes, not just once in election season, but in an ongoing basis. We have relationships with our radio hosts, with our television broadcasters and the local media so that they understand how our elections are administered.”

“One of the trends that we’re seeing that’s happening across the country is the retirement and turnover among local election officials. That’s precipitated in part because of a rise in threats against election workers and people being more extreme or angry when they’re interacting with

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Bellows says that she and her staff are fighting against the brewing distrust of the voting process and widespread misinformation with open communication to the people of Maine.

Partisan pushbacks are an area of concern across the nation. However, Maine’s deliberate bipartisan efforts have been extremely helpful in building back voter confidence.

The state has codified law that requires an equal representation of Democrats and Republicans at the polls, information Bellows has used to ease the minds of voters and even recruit volunteers. This upcoming election season, state leaders are grappling with a drop in local election clerks, in-part due to the rise in animosity toward elections. Maine’s elections are run through municipalities, as opposed to being county-based and rely on over 500 election officials to administer state, local and federal elections.

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their local election officials, which has made the job more challenging,” Bellows said.

However, new bipartisan legislation has put in place protections for poll workers, in addition to bolstering the security and efficiency of elections.

“We’ve been successful in our state legislature. The legislation to protect election workers was bipartisan and we were also able to work collaboratively in the legislature to secure additional resources for training and post-election audits to help strengthen public trust and the accuracy and security of our elections. So, we’ve been really pleased to see that.”

Maine was one of the first states to introduce and adopt ranked choice voting with overwhelming support from voters. For Bellows, it was important to make this new voting process visible for all Mainers, which she says helped boost voter trust.

“Like any other aspect of elections, what’s most important is to be fully transparent about how it works,” she said. “Live streaming the ranked

“

choice voting tabulation, for example, helps people understand how that works. Making sure that we test some of our materials like ballot design and voting for people with disabilities with representatives from the disabilities community before we launch has increased voter confidence as well.”

Beyond the ballot, Bellows is optimistic for a future of positive change. To achieve that future, she’s relying on her ideals of valiant honesty and fairness through cross-party collaboration.

“We can only achieve permanent and lasting positive change if we work together in bipartisan coalitions to get things done. Our country depends on a process. That entails checks and balances and the free and fair debate of ideas.

“The principle of no permanent friends and no permanent enemies is one that I brought with me into elected office, because I think it’s really important to look past where we come from or our political affiliation to try to reach common ground around shared values.”

We can only achieve permanent and lasting positive change if we work together in bipartisan coalitions to get things done. Our country depends on a process. That entails checks and balances and the free and fair debate of ideas.”

Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State

Michael Adams

Kentucky Secretary of State “Easier to vote, harder to cheat” is one of the phrases Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams uses to explain his strategy in the Commonwealth. It’s not as simple as it sounds.

Adams championed a historic election reform bill in 2021. Passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, the bill was Kentucky’s most significant election reform since 1891, creating an online portal for absentee ballot registration, establishing permanent early voting days, adding security measures and more.

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Behind the bill’s success lies a complex groundwork of communication, collaboration, trust-building and plain old politics. Adams says the final result came down to a simple reality: access and security are good for everyone.

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“When you improve access, you improve security, and vice versa,” he said.

“You don’t have to push down on one side and weaken on the other side.

You can actually get them both simultaneously. That’s why this is the only state in America where you have Republicans voting for an access bill, Democrats voting for a security bill.”

Both during the COVID-19 public health emergency in 2020 and in the push for permanent reforms in 2021, Adams’ office faced significant challenges in building public trust and communicating accurate information.

One of the keys to success has been including local officials in every step

of decision making and communication. Local election officials have their neighbor’s trust, Adams says, and they are some of the most important channels for communicating new election information.

“They’ve been at the table every time we’ve changed anything about our process,” he said. “So, we get their buy-in and, number one, that makes the product better, but number two, it makes them feel more inclined to be advocates for what we’re doing.”

Adams also paid close attention to voters’ concerns and crafted politically astute messages that addressed their fears.

“I sold early voting as basically sticking it to the man — we’re going to end voter suppression in our state,” Adams said. “ ‘They only give you one day to vote; we’re gonna give you three weeks.’ And some of our voters said, ‘Heck yeah,’ because they saw it as a populist response to elitism.”

Adams says he’s no populist, but he’s willing to use the argument that works. Idealism isn’t an argument, he says. Building consensus — in the legislature or in rural Kentucky — requires more creative thinking.

“It requires a good faith effort on both sides to actually sit at the table together and work this stuff out,” Adams said. “Sometimes in politics, politicians would rather have the issue than the solution. Fortunately, we’ve not had that kind of demagoguery in Kentucky. The Democrats have been willing to work with me and the Republicans have been willing to work with the Democrats. That’s pretty unusual. I think getting the politics right has meant that we were able to get the policy.”

Maggie Toulouse Oliver New Mexico Secretary of State

Working in public office since 2007, Secretary Maggie Toulouse Oliver has experienced her fair share of elections. From her first position as county clerk to her current role as secretary of state, Toulouse Oliver has years of expertise in the formation and preparation of election administration. This year, as she and her staff prepare for election season, they face a changed political landscape as New Mexico comes off one of the nation’s most extreme instances of election disinformation.

Earlier this year, Secretary Toulouse Oliver enlisted the help of the New Mexico state Supreme Court to order a county commission to certify the results of the primary election in Otero County after members of the commission refused to do so, citing concerns with the vote-tallying process.

“I think it is indicative of the types of things that are happening in other states,” she said. “So, as we prepare for November, not only are we doing all the other things that we always have to do in the lead up to an election, but now we’re also having to actively combat myths and disinformation among citizens and elected officials.”

New Mexico has been at the forefront of election accuracy, enacting a post-election audit law in 2005 and working year-round to ramp up cybersecurity collaboratively through the New Mexico Election Security Program Office and the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Information Technology Division. However, this year Toulouse Oliver is focused on three main components to help mitigate disinformation surrounding elections: an extensive, documented review of the election process; outreach to the public; and a nonpartisan approach to collaborating with entities like county commissions.

“

Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico Secretary of State

While Toulouse Oliver has her own partisan ties, she values the importance of a nonpartisan workplace and the oath she took before assuming office to ensure fairness and accuracy. Beyond that, she wants people to know that there is more that unites us than divides us.

“Election officials, no matter whether they’re Democratic or Republican, take the aspect of their job to ensure fairness and accuracy very seriously. I certainly do that too. In fact, we swear an oath on that,” she said. “Election officials at all levels, from the highest levels down to the local poll worker, are experiencing threats based on our participation in our democratic process. I think it’s really important right now to talk about ourselves as humans, right? I’m a single mom and I have both a 24-year-old son and a 12-year-old son to whom I’m dedicated to more than anything else. Beyond my kids, this job of ensuring fair and accurate elections is my number two.”

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Election officials, no matter whether they’re Democratic or Republican, take the aspect of their job to ensure fairness and accuracy very seriously.

I certainly do that too.

In fact, we swear an oath on that.”

The Office of the Secretary of State has already been making attempts to communicate directly to the public while working to dispel any misconceptions about the process through a “Rumor vs. Reality” fact-checking webpage. Though Toulouse Oliver wants to personally connect with people working in county commissions, who play an integral role in the democratic process, to quell any concerns they may have about the integrity of votes in New Mexico.

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Scott Nago

Hawaii Chief Election Officer While COVID-19 scrambled election plans in other states, Scott Nago had an advantage — legislation signed by Hawaii Gov. David Ige in 2019 had prepared the state for all-mail elections beginning in 2020.

As chief election officer in Hawaii, Nago couldn’t have known in 2019 just how important the move to all-mail elections would become for public health, but he’d known for years it would be an important step to improve voter turnout.

Some version of an all-mail voting bill had been introduced in the legislature every year since Nago started working in the state election office in 1998, he said, and he was “pleasantly surprised” when it finally passed in 2019.

“It wasn’t overnight,” he said. “It was something that took a long time to get done.”

For several years, voters had already shown a preference for voting by no-excuse absentee ballot. Moving to all-mail elections was a response to voter preference, especially since voters were more than usually reluctant to go to polls because of COVID-19.

“They would have probably requested an absentee mail ballot anyway,” Nago said. “But once they found out that your ballot is automatically coming to you in the mail, all you have to do is vote it, sign it and get it back to us by the deadline — it’s really easy.”

All-mail voting has streamlined the administration side of elections, too, significantly reducing the number of personnel needed and the logistics of securing polling locations.

“From a selfish point of view for an election administrator, when you have a polling place election, there’s a lot of moving parts that you just can’t control,” Nago said.

When the state had polling place elections, Nago needed to reserve 250 polling places statewide, booked two years in advance. He had to recruit people to open and prepare the polling places in addition to recruiting poll workers. Each of these elements was a potential point of failure.

“All it takes is one person to oversleep or get sick, and we can’t open on time, and we have to scramble to send somebody out there with a key or wake up a principal of a school or a custodian just to get access to the polling place to open it up on election day,” he said. “A lot of that logistical headache is gone with the vote by mail.”

Since Nago started working in the election office, the state has implemented automatic voter registration, conducted two elections by mail and offered online registration. The challenge now is simply getting the word out. One other point Nago wants to spread the word about — election officials everywhere are doing their best for voters.

“In elections, there’s only one answer — the right answer,” he said.

“There’s no interpretation. You have to follow the law. And that’s what we’re going to do because we want to make it as fair as possible. We don’t want to be talked about, as the election officials. We don’t want the story to be about us. We want it to be about candidates at the end of the night.”

Jim Condos

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Vermont Secretary of State

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Jim Condos served 18 years on the South Burlington City Council. He was a Vermont state senator for eight years. Since 2011, he has served as Vermont secretary of state, ensuring that Vermont elections are fair, accessible and secure. In all his years of public service, though, he says he’s never seen the scale of election disinformation his state now faces — and he’s had just about enough.

“We’re pushing the idea that you need to go to your trusted sources, be it the election folks in the secretaries of state office or your local elections officials to get the right information to make sure that you’re getting credible information.”

“This year has been troubling to say the least. The misinformation and disinformation that we’ve been dealing with has been a real struggle. So many people just trust the information they see online. I believe strongly that voting is the very basis of our democracy, and we need to ensure that people have the right to cast a ballot. It’s a constitutional right and they need to be able to do that without influence and without threats of violence.”

He and his staff work year-round to ensure that every component is in place for a fair, smooth election. Through updating cybersecurity and using data to create informed voting initiatives for the state, Condos has raised Vermont’s Election Performance Index rating from 38th in the nation to first. He attributes this improvement to transparency and accessibility in the voting process through hosting media roundtables and, more recently, opting for universal voteby-mail for the entire state.

In a post-2020 election cycle, distrust in the voting process is a challenge that still lingers for many election officials across the nation. According to Condos, a large portion of this mistrust comes from disinformation spread by social media.

“My personal feeling is that the greatest challenge we have today, and I think many of my colleagues would agree with me, is the social media misinformation and disinformation that’s out there. It’s all designed to sow division and to weaken the confidence of voters and we need to just stay above it, stay consistent and continue to do the job that we do.”

To mitigate any confusion, Condos says directing people to trustworthy sources is a starting point.

“It was so successful that the legislature, with tri-partisan support, supported and passed legislation to make the general election vote-bymail permanent going forward.”

While his 30-plus years of public office are drawing to a close after his current term, Condos has been an adamant supporter of maintaining a non-partisan office for his staffers and the people of Vermont during his tenure.

“It has been the honor of my lifetime,” Condos said in a statement regarding his retirement, “and I am grateful to have been provided the opportunity to help protect, defend, and expand our democracy.”

Steve Hobbs

Washington Secretary of State Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is no stranger to stressful elections.

A National Guard member, Hobbs previously served in the Army both on active duty and in the Reserves. During deployments in Kosovo and Iraq, Hobbs worked on election security, including the first elections in Kosovo. Hobbs says his overseas experience was contentious and dangerous — and he never dreamed it would be a test run for an increasingly difficult climate in the U.S. “I take it very, very seriously,” he said. “I put my life on the line in those two countries, and I’m willing to put my life on the line for this country to ensure that our elections remain the way they are — free, accessible and secure.”

Hobbs assumed the office of secretary of state in November 2021, when Washington Gov. Jay Inslee nominated him to succeed departing Secretary Kim Wyman. Hobbs previously served 15 years in the state Senate.

Through the Defense Information School in the Department of Defense, Hobbs learned about combating misinformation and disinformation, and he’s excited to combine his military and government expertise to keep Washington elections accessible and secure. He has three election priorities as secretary: increasing our cybersecurity, combating misinformation and disinformation, and engaging in voter outreach and education.

On the cybersecurity front, Hobbs has worked with the legislature to double the size of his cybersecurity team, and he is strengthening ties with the National Guard, particularly an Air National Guard cyber unit. He is having “continuous meetings” with the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Hobbs says he’s also focused on actively engaging with the public.

“What I want to do in this role is educate the public about how secure our elections are, and how all these checks are in place,” he said.

“We’ve taken it for granted for many, many years. … But now with all this misinformation and disinformation out there, and malign actors …, we have to get the word out about our elections.”

Communicating quickly is important, Hobbs says — “a tweet becomes a re-tweet becomes a meme” — but so is preemptive and proactive engagement. He says what’s needed is active engagement, not just public relations.

“It’s not just doing a commercial or a Facebook post or social media, but actually going out to communities and talking to people, building relationships,” he said.

“I love my job,” Hobbs said. “It’s great to be able to combine my 15 years of political experience in the state Senate and my military experience. It’s just a great job to be where I can combine both of these experiences into one and manage such an awesome agency.”

I take it very, very seriously. I put my life on the line in those two countries, and I’m willing to put my life on the line for this country to ensure that our elections remain the way they are — free, accessible and secure.”

Steve Hobbs, Washington Secretary of State

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Elections remain a main focus for Hobbs, but in Washington, the secretary of state’s office also manages libraries, the state library and archives, corporations and charities, and Hobbs says he’s energized by all aspects of his role.

“

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EQUITABLE

ACC E S S States use innovative strategies to ensure voting access for voters with disabilities and military and overseas voters.

By Rachel Wright and Casandra Hockenberry

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Nearly two million people with disabilities — about 11% of all voters with a disability — encountered challenges voting in 2020.

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People with disabilities can face a variety of barriers when trying to cast their ballot. For example, an individual with a print disability (the inability to understand printed information) may be unable to mark and return a paper absentee ballot. Additional barriers can include physically inaccessible polling places, lack of access to a functioning ballot marking device with assistive technologies and limited access to timely election information.

While barriers to voting persist for people with disabilities, turnout among this group has increased in recent years. From 2016 to 2020, the voter turnout gap between people with disabilities and people without disabilities decreased slightly from 6.3 percentage points to 5.7 percentage points. Throughout the U.S., state and local leaders have implemented innovative policies and practices to reduce gaps in turnout and expand voting access for people with disabilities.

MAKING POLLING PLACES PHYSICALLY ACCESSIBLE FOR VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES Approximately 38 million American voters are living with a disability.

Disability can impact hearing or vision, mobility, cognition, and/or the ability to live independently. People with disabilities still retain the right to fully participate in all aspects of community life, including the electoral process.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires all polling places to be accessible to voters with disabilities, yet many polling places and vote centers remain physically inaccessible. Common issues include inaccessible parking, sidewalks and walkways in disrepair, steps and narrow doors to entrances and protruding objects in hallways.

States are working to correct these issues. Many have come up with programs and resources to make vote centers and the voting experience more accessible for all citizens.

For example, the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for Los Angeles County, California, has enhanced the physical accessibility of polling places through the Flex Vote Center Program. This program was established in 2020 with the implementation of the county’s new publicly owned voting system, Voting Solutions for All People.

Through the Flex Vote Center Program, the county partnered with local organizations providing supports and services to people with disabilities such as the Disabled Resource Center. Vote centers were set up at these community organizations, eliminating the need for people

Nearly 2 million people with disabilities encountered challenges voting in 2020.

with disabilities to use traditional vote centers or polling places. The program also offered curbside voting, allowing election staff to maintain social distancing while providing a secure, comfortable experience for voters with disabilities.

In Iowa, the secretary of state’s office partnered with Disability Rights Iowa in 2020 to produce and distribute an Accessibility Guide Booklet to election officials throughout the state. These booklets include information on accessible voting equipment, spacing and signage to ensure polling places are accessible for Iowans with disabilities.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, states introduced 3,676 elections-related bills in 2021.

Of those bills, 285 were enacted.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO TIMELY ELECTION INFORMATION IN AN ACCESSIBLE FORMAT

ACCESSIBLE ABSENTEE BALLOTS FOR VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES

Access to timely election information is essential to voting. According to James Dickson, co-chair of the Voting Rights Committee at the National Council on Independent Living, “…most of the information that is available to (voters without disabilities) through the election office on the internet is not accessible to many of us.”

If voters with a disability are unable to arrive at a polling place on Election Day, they must often mark and return a mailed paper ballot in advance. For voters with print disabilities, marking a paper ballot may require help from a roommate, friend or family member, thereby compromising their right to vote privately and independently.

States such as Florida have tried to enhance the accessibility of public-facing election information for people with disabilities. Beginning with the 2016 presidential election, the Martin County Elections Center launched the Count Me in Too campaign. This campaign generated a series of educational videos aimed at helping individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.

To combat this, the West Virginia legislature enacted Senate Bill 94 (2020). This bill helps voters with physical disabilities who are unable to mark a paper ballot without assistance. Senate Bill 94 lets these voters receive, mark and return an absentee ballot by mail or electronically through a safe, accessible and secure portal. As a result, 271 voters with a qualifying disability cast their ballot using the new system during the 2020 general election.

Count Me in Too campaign videos educate voters on how to register to vote and cast their ballot. This information is presented in multiple formats: American Sign Language, audio voice-over and closedcaptioning text. During the 2016 election, registration and turnout increased among voters with disabilities by 8% in Martin County.

Also in 2016, the Washington secretary of state’s office launched MyVote (now known as VoteWA), an accessible and easy to use voter information portal. The system was designed around accessibility best practices such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 AA standards, National Federation of the Blind Mobile Voting Working Group Electronic Ballot Delivery Guidelines and Center for Civic Design guidelines.

From 2016 to 2020, the voter turnout gap between people with disabilities and people without disabilities decreased from 6.3 percentage points to 5.7.

State and local officials continue to find innovative ways to ensure everyone can participate fully in the American election process.

EXPANDING ACCESS FOR MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS Since 2013, The Council of State Governments Overseas Voting Initiative has supported the U.S. Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Program. The program is designed to help reduce the barriers to voting faced by military and overseas citizens — a federally protected class of voters. A series of laws protect their right to vote: the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act and the Help Americans Vote Act. Among other things, these laws require that in the administration of federal elections, officials mail ballots to military and overseas voters at least 45 days prior to the election, provide some method for voters to track their ballot through the process and provide some methodology for military and overseas citizen voters to receive their blank ballot electronically.

According to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, nearly three million U.S. citizens live abroad and are eligible to vote in U.S. elections.

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Approximately 38 million American voters are living with a disability.

Election officials in California recently implemented a remote accessible vote-by-mail system for voters with disabilities. The system allows voters with disabilities to download their ballot and mark their selections using their own compatible technology. Additionally, voters are able to maintain privacy and independence while marking their ballot, despite the presence of a disability. As of 2022, voters are still required to print their selections and mail or drop off their ballot to their local election official.

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According to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, nearly 3 million U.S. citizens live abroad and are eligible to vote in U.S. elections.

Innovative Elections-related Legislation in the States A Nebraska Legislative Bill 843 (2022) allows members of the Nebraska National Guard who are called into active service — either for their state or for the United States — to use a Federal Post Card Application. This application is a federal document that military and overseas citizens can use to register to vote and request an absentee ballot. By extending this protection to members of the National Guard, Nebraska is extending federal safeguards to an individual’s right to vote. While it does strengthen protections, it does not make any major changes to election administration.

Military and overseas citizens are a small but important subsection of the 256.6 million people who are eligible to vote in the U.S.. States are extremely innovative when it comes to serving these voters. Military and overseas citizen voters often live in austere conditions with limited access to services like computer terminals, printers, postal mail and the internet. In 2020, these voters also experienced global mail service disruptions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in constantly changing deadlines and requirements for submitting ballots.

State election officials worked tirelessly to keep these voters up to date and to navigate potential pitfalls to access.

The pandemic accelerated state policymakers’ thinking about how to leverage existing and emerging technologies to ensure ballot access for voters, regardless of their physical location. These tools are especially important for military and overseas voters, who have long faced barriers to ballot access. As states administer the 2022 federal elections, they should be attentive to how email, web portals, Common Access Cards (i.e. identification cards containing electronically accessible information) and other technologies can enable efficient access to and secure submission of ballots.

Photo By: Sgt. Lynette Hoke, U.S. Army

A Tennessee House Bill 2488 (2020) would authorize the election commission of Montgomery County to research and test methods, systems and technologies to enable voting in addition to or other than by mail for members and employees of the United States armed forces and their dependents who are registered to vote in the county but are stationed outside the territorial limits of the United States. Currently, voters registered in Tennessee must return their ballot by mail. If this bill is enacted, the pilot program in Montgomery County, home to many stationed at the U.S. Army Base Fort Campbell, would explore alternate methods of ballot return.

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A Michigan Senate Bill 9 (2021)

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provides for electronic return of absentee voter ballots by military voters and requires use of United States Department of Defense verified electronic signature for military members to electronically return a voted ballot. The act also requires that electronically submitted ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day and allows the Michigan secretary of state to develop a secure portal on the secretary of state’s website to facilitate electronic return of voted ballots by eligible members.

A The CSG Overseas Voting Initiative has done extensive research on Common Access Cards, which host the current iteration of United States Department of Defense verified electronic signatures. A CSG report on these cards, and other resources, can be found at ovi.csg.org/articles. To learn more about the work of the Overseas Voting Initiative and services available to state policymakers, contact Casandra Hockenberry (chockenberry@csg.org).

Military and overseas citizens are a small but important subsection of the 256.6 million people who are eligible to vote in the U.S. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, states introduced 3,676 elections-related bills in 2021. Of those bills, 285 were enacted. This is a consistent passage rate for elections-related bills in odd-numbered years. There were 89 bills related to military and overseas citizen voters, six of which were enacted. These bills have not made major changes to the election administration process for military and overseas citizens.

As state legislatures consider alterations to election administration, it is important that they build in sufficient time for effective implementation.

Election officials need time to put new processes in place, create training modules for staff and volunteers and ensure that voters understand the new process. Remote voters, such as military and overseas citizens, need sufficient time to register, request a ballot and securely submit votes using the new process. Election officials often say that it takes approximately two federal election cycles for voters to fully understand a new election process.

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT.

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WINE & SPIRITS WHOLESALERS OF AMERICA

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) spirits shipping increases the likelihood of underage access in your state.

Before you cast your vote, make sure you know the whole story about DTC spirits shipping. Common carriers conduct little to no age verification, and when attempted, verification fails about half the time.

Testimony in states facing DTC

legislation point to a pervasive problem of underage access.

In an investigation into online alcohol retailers in Kansas, two shipments were delivered to underage individuals. One box of liquor was even handed to a 7-year-old. And, in Maine, a local retailer testified that a shipment of spirits was handed to his fiveyear-old “with no signature.”

The existing three-tier system prevents underage access through locally licensed businesses that are held accountable in the marketplace.

There is no equivalent accountability in the DTC marketplace.

VISIT WSWA.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION

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In a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, only 12% of online alcohol orders placed by underage purchasers were rejected as a result of age verification and 45% of orders placed by underage purchasers were successfully received.

The current three-tier system contains checks and balances designed to prevent underage individuals from purchasing alcohol and a regulatory structure that holds violators accountable.

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CT / DE / MA / MD / ME / NH / NJ / NY / PA / RI / VT / NB / NS / ON / PE / PR / QC / VI

Abortion Sanctuary Law Passes

New Law Expands Rhode Island Voter Access Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee signed the “Let RI Vote Act” into law, which expands voter access across the state while ensuring election integrity. The legislation improves mail voting by expanding to allow online mail ballot applications and permits any resident to vote by mail or online regardless of the situation. The bill also removes the requirement to provide two witnesses on mail ballots. Voters’ signatures will instead be verified through a four-tiered verification process.

The act also enhances the maintenance of voter registrations rolls. It requires the secretary of state to update the voter list at least four times each year, creates a permanent multilingual voter information hotline and reduces the Braille ballot application deadline from 45 days to 21 days before an election.

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“The Let RI Vote Act makes voting easier, safer, and more secure, and making it easier to give Rhode Islanders a voice in their government should always be our top priority,” McKee said in a statement. “I thank the bill sponsors, legislators, and advocates who saw to it that this bill got across the finish line.”

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New York lawmakers passed several bills that would establish the state as a refuge for anyone seeking access to an abortion, regardless of whether they live there. The comprehensive six-bill package includes legislation on legal protections, unlawful interference, confidentiality and more. In addition, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $35 million grant to expand abortion services and provider capacity and ensure the safety of both providers and patients. “Reproductive rights are human rights, and today we are signing landmark legislation to further protect them and all who wish to access them in New York State,” Governor Hochul said.

Vermont’s ARPA Update Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed into law Senate Bill 11, which invests $84.5 million, comprised of both state and federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, to provide local businesses with resources to grow and addresses the state’s workforce shortage. Of that funding, investments will be made in several sectors of Vermont’s business and workforce education programs. Included in the act is a $3 million investment to expand regional support at the Department of Labor, $10 million to address health care workforce shortages, $40 million to support community recovery and a revitalization grant program and more. “This bill makes historic investments to help solve some of our state’s biggest challenges. It is an opportunity to change our course for the better, to grow our workforce and support our communities in their continued recovery and revitalization,” said Scott.

Increasing Transparency for Public Charter Schools

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The Pennsylvania Department of Education has developed new regulations to increase transparency, equity and accountability in the Charter School Law. The regulations clarify several elements of the states’ law on charter schools and aims to align charter schools with their traditional public-school counterparts.

Some of the added appropriations from

the department ask the following of charter schools: “Provide clear application requirements for entities seeking to open a charter school, regional charter school, and cyber charter school; Require school districts and charter schools to follow the same fiscal management and auditing standards; and provide a consistent, common-sense method for charter schools to meet the employee health care requirements in state law.”

Cabinet on Aging Established Maine has the highest median age range in the country, with many residents expected to retire in the coming years.

In view of these anticipated losses to the state’s workforce, Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order establishing a Cabinet on Aging. The cabinet will work to address demographic changes by shaping policies that aid the people of Maine in aging safely and affordably. Bringing together state agencies, the cabinet will also make advancements in how to improve and maintain a healthy workforce. The Cabinet on Aging is led by commissioners from multiple state agencies and co-chaired by the commissioners of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor. A bipartisan effort, the cabinet is focused on affordable housing and long-term service.

Mills made this announcement following a string of other state initiatives to support older residents.

The next CSG East Annual Meeting will be held Aug. 20-23 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mark your calendars now! Registration for this meeting — the premier event for state and provincial leaders from the East — will open in early 2023.

IA / IL / IN / KS / MI / MN / ND / NE / OH / SD / WI / AB / MB / ON / SK

Voting from Prison Lawmakers in Illinois have made it possible for more detention facilities to offer in-person voting opportunities to inmates. At present, only two facilities have opened polling locations in the state: Will County Detention Facility and Cook County Jail in Chicago. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law in 2019 creating a voting precinct in the Cook County Jail, the largest single-site jail in the nation.

After seeing the success of voting in the 2020 primary and general elections, activists are calling for expansion of the law.

Each location’s polls remain open for five hours each day over one weekend, allowing detainees at both prisons to vote in person at the jail.

$71 Million in Construction Projects Across Wisconsin The Wisconsin State Building Commission approved $71 million in funding for key projects across the state to address deferred maintenance and begin construction of several projects in state-owned facilities. Some upcoming projects include the design of a new Wisconsin Historical Society Museum, a new University of Wisconsin Engineering Building, safety improvements, expansion of health care resources and more.

“These projects are critical for modernizing our state’s infrastructure and helping to make sure our buildings are operating efficiently and safely,” said Gov. Tony Evers. “I’m grateful for the commission’s support for these important projects and look forward to continuing our work supporting and investing in infrastructure across our state.”

be converted into test-to-treat locations.

“Minnesota has been a leader on innovation in COVID-19 testing throughout the pandemic, and this exciting partnership with the federal government is another step to help ensure all Minnesotans can get the COVID-19 testing and care that they need,” said Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

Diversifying State Parks Racial disparities in park visitation are prevalent — officials estimate that over 60% of America’s park visitors are white.

Parks around the country are trying to change this through initiatives like hiring diverse employees, dedicating historic sites and building new parks in underserved areas. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the state’s investment in parks across Michigan through The Building Michigan Together plan, including a $30.2 million state park one mile from downtown Flint.

The next CSG Midwest Annual Meeting will be held July 9-12 in Detroit, Michigan. Mark your calendars now! Registration for this meeting — the premier event for state and provincial leaders from the Midwest — will open in early 2023.

School Safety Initiatives Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 99, which makes additions to school security measures and includes investments in student safety. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Thomas Hall, allows the previous practice of permitting local school boards to decide whether they will authorize specific people to carry guns on school grounds. Codified within the bill is a training requirement that includes up to 24 hours of school-specific training and up to eight hours of yearly school-specific requalification, to be developed by the Ohio School Safety Center. Additionally, the bill appropriates $6 million to expand the center and create a new Safety & Crisis division within it. Upon instruction from DeWine, separate from House Bill 99, the center will also expand staffing to include 16 liaisons (up from five) who will be based in the Ohio Department of Education and work with schools to continually implement a comprehensive school safety plan.

“Our goal is to continue to help our public and private schools get the tools they need to protect our children,” DeWine said. “Working together, we have come a long way to improve school safety in Ohio over the last decade, and we must continue this progress. We have an obligation to do everything we can every single day to try and protect our kids.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced that three state-run COVID-19 testing sites will soon offer treatments on-site for patients who test positive. Test-totreat locations will allow Minnesotans the ability to receive coronavirus testing and, if necessary, immediately access treatment options, including a prescription for antiviral treatment Paxlovid. With federal assistance, Brooklyn Park, Moorhead and Duluth testing sites were slated to

For more on CSG Midwest, visit csgmidwest.org.

630.925.1922 • csgm@csg.org

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COVID-19 Test-to-Treat Sites

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AL / AR / FL / GA / KY / LA / MO / MS / NC / OK / SC / TN / TX / VA / WV

Extending Medicaid Coverage

Support for Incarcerated Mothers Infants born to incarcerated women in Missouri may soon get to remain with their mothers for up to 18 months under a bipartisan bill recently approved by the General Assembly. Senate Bill 683 directs the Missouri Department of Corrections to establish a nursery within a women’s correctional facility by July 2025.

Women who have been convicted of certain crimes would be ineligible to participate in the program, and a woman’s participation could be ended if a court grants custody of the child to another person.

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To convert one wing to house a seven-bed nursery, the department estimates there would be $247,000 in one-time costs, like supplying toys and equipment, and nearly $900,000 in ongoing costs, including staff time, baby formula and diapers. To support the program’s creation, lawmakers included an additional $495,000 in the Department of Corrections’ budget. The department may also accept donations and grants to fund the nursery. A fiscal analysis of the bill determined that in 2021, 25 women gave birth while in the department’s custody, with an average time served of 3.1 months after delivery. A study that analyzed a similar program in Nebraska from 1994 to 2014 found that women who participated saw a 28% reduction in recidivism, and a 39% reduction in returning to prison, resulting in a savings of more than $6 million.

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Kentucky and Florida are among several states that received federal approval to extend Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months after childbirth. This decision comes after a national increase in pregnancy-related chronic illnesses and maternal death rate. According to a report from the Center for Disease Control, “The maternal mortality rate for 2020 was 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births compared with a rate of 20.1 in 2019. In 2020, the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.9 times the rate for non-Hispanic White women.”

The Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services, which is the largest contributor to pregnancy-related services, covering over 42% of births annually, also released guidance urging state leaders to extend postpartum coverage.

Census Recount Two years after the 2020 census, many places in the nation say the count did not accurately reflect the actual population numbers. Speculation of a miscount started when data showed that McNab, Arkansas, had lost over half of its residents, resulting in a cut to the city’s revenue-sharing payment. The Census Bureau has already received complaints from Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and other states through the Count Question Resolution program. A new plan from the bureau, the Post-Census Group Quarters Review, allows state officials to submit requests for review of their official 2020 Census results and to flag results for institutional settings like colleges and prisons. Census result challenges will be accepted by the bureau through June 2023.

Uvalde Together Resiliency Center

For more on CSG South, visit csgsouth.org.

404.633.1866

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the opening of a temporary facility for the new Uvalde Together Resiliency Center.

The new facility came only a few weeks after the Robb Elementary shooting that took the lives of 21 people. Equipped with

services for mental health, education, child care services and more, the center is a hub for those affected by the tragedy.

Local, regional and state agencies are working together to provide assistance.

Abbott also announced a $5 million investment in a permanent resource center, saying “As the Uvalde community works to piece their lives back together, we must come together as Texans to provide the ongoing, comprehensive support needed to move forward from this terrible tragedy.”

Freedom First Budget Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Freedom First Budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year, which details record investments in the state’s education system.

The budget totals $109.9 billion, with $29 billion of that dedicated to education resources throughout the state. The budget raises per-student funding to the highest in Florida’s history and commits to raising the minimum base salaries for teachers with an $800 million investment.

Another focal point of the budget is $1.24 billion in tax relief for Florida residents, specifically including a gas tax holiday that lowers the price of gas by 25.3 cents.

Other key points of the budget include investments in student mental health, school safety, literacy achievement, environmental resources and maintaining historic reserves.

The next CSG South Annual Meeting will be held July 8-12 in Charleston, South Carolina. Mark your calendars now! Registration for this meeting — the premier event for state leaders from the South — will open in early 2023.

AK / AZ / CA / CO / HI / ID / MT / NM / NV / OR / UT / WA / WY / AB / AS / BC / CNMI / GU

Colorado Enacts ‘Right to Repair’ Law Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 22-1031, which grants wheelchair owners access to software, manuals and parts to repair their chairs rather than having to seek help from a manufacturer. Under this law, manufacturers would be cited for unfair trade practices if they refuse to provide materials or comply. This right-torepair law is the first in the nation to pass, leading the charge for independent repairs, waste management and consumers’ rights.

At present, the Colorado law only provides clearance on wheelchair repairs, but other right-to-repair bills around the nation include cellphones, tractors and more.

Less Parking, More Housing A growing national housing shortages and increasing home prices has challenged policymakers to find solutions.

According to a study from the Oregon Office of Economic Analyisis, “Oregon has underbuilt housing by 111,000 units in recent decades. Unfortunately, the industry is running into supply side constraints. In general these include the lack of financing, particularly for land acquisition, development, and construction loans, which contributes to the low supply of available land and buildable lots.” Oregon is taking a unique approach, enacting permanent land use rules that would eliminate the minimum parking requirements for homes and businesses to increase housing choices in those areas. Additionally, the proposed rules would require cities to designate climate-friendly areas, encouraging compact eco-friendly communities.

Water Restrictions on the Horizon

Workforce Incentive Grant Program Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a pilot program, the Workforce Incentive Grant, aimed at making community college and workforce training programs available for free to more students. This announcement comes after Sisolak dedicated $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to spearhead ways to increase access to educational opportunities, like community college or workforce development, making them free to more Nevadans. The program aims to widen eligibility and scholarship for those who would have traditionally been excluded due to age or credit-load requirements.

A proposed financial aid grant program for the initiative would build on existing programs like the Nevada Promise Scholarship, which guarantees that high school students can attend a Nevada System of Higher Education community college for free. If approved, the pilot would commence in Spring 2023.

The next CSG West Annual Meeting will be held Aug. 1-4 in Hollywood, California. Mark your calendars now!

Registration for this meeting — the premier event for state and provincial leaders from the West — will open in early 2023.

Alaskan Wildfires In early June, a tundra wildfire made its way across southwest Alaska, threatening several Native villages in the region. As the smoke influx continued to rise, several communities were placed on “Ready” status for evacuation and many areas of southwest and southcentral Alaska are already being hindered by heavy smoke and poor visibility and air quality.

According to the Associated Press, “Nearly 150 residents from the affected communities have already temporarily relocated to the southwest Alaska hub community of Bethel.”

On June 20, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed House Bill 209, which will “help build the State’s mostly rural-based firefighting crews, strengthen local economies, and provide enhanced public safety to Alaska communities,” according to an interagency website. The new law allows the Department of Natural Resources to use general fund dollars to hire emergency firefighters to perform non-emergency work like the removal of hazardous fuels. This allows the department to retain emergency workers outside the summer fire season and to perform crucial work outside of fire season.

“This important change lets the state put local fire crews to work more consistently and grow our rural firefighting capabilities,” Dunleavy said. “And with more flexibility to prevent wildland fires through fuels reduction projects, not just fight active fires, it’s another tool in our toolkit to keep Alaskans, their homes, and our state’s critical infrastructure safe.”

For more on CSG West, visit csgwest.org.

916.553.4423 • csgw@csg.org

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Officials are warning Californians of statewide, mandatory cuts to water consumption. In response to an extended drought, the state is trying to assess whether water conservation goals are being met. Earlier this year, the State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to implement a ban on watering of non-functional turf for office buildings, schools, hotels and other commercial, industrial and institutional settings. Regulators also ordered water

suppliers to start conservation plans that would prepare their service areas for a 20% shortage in water supply.

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Put Your Knowledge to the Test Explore the U.S. citizenship

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civics test.

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The U.S. naturalization civics test is one of the most well-known aspects of the naturalization process. It’s also one that has seen substantial change.

For most of U.S. history, no standard civics test existed. Beginning with an act of Congress in 1906, judges were allowed to ask civics-related questions, but questions were not standardized — and neither were test format, protocols or scoring — until the Immigration and Naturalization Service launched a standardization process in 1997. That process was finally completed in 2008, and the resulting four-part test is fully standardized and administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

Two versions of the test currently exist — the original 2008 test and an expanded 2020 version. A recent executive order issued

by President Joe Biden restored the 2008 test for standard use, but some applicants have the option of taking the 2020 test if they wish.

The 2008 version is an oral test that consists of up to 10 questions, chosen from a possible 100. Applicants must answer six correctly to pass the test. This option is standard for all naturalization applicants who filed on or after March 1, 2021.

Test your knowledge online with our civics quiz! csg.org/civics-test

The 2020 version is an oral test that consists of 20 questions drawn from a possible 128. Applicants must answer 12 correctly to pass the test. This version is optional for people who filed their naturalization applications on or after Dec. 1, 2020, and before March 1, 2021, and whose initial interview took place before April 19, 2021.

Starting on the next page are the possible 100 questions for the 2008 test, along with answers. How many can you answer correctly?

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SECTION A

Principles of American Democracy

23

Name your U.S. Representative.

24

Who does a U.S. Senator represent?

25

Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?

We elect a President for how many years?

What is the supreme law of the land?

2

What does the Constitution do?

26

3

The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?

27

In what month do we vote for President?

28

What is the name of the President of the United States now?

4

What is an amendment?

29

What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?

5

What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

30

If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

6

What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?

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7

How many amendments does the Constitution have?

If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

8

What did the Declaration of Independence do?

32

Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?

9

What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?

33

Who signs bills to become laws?

10

What is freedom of religion?

34

Who vetoes bills?

11

What is the economic system in the United States?

35

What does the President’s Cabinet do?

12

What is the “rule of law”?

36

What are two Cabinet-level positions?

37

What does the judicial branch do?

38

What is the highest court in the United States?

39

How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

40

Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?

41

Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?

42

Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?

43

Who is the Governor of your state now?

44

What is the capital of your state?

45

What are the two major political parties in the United States?

Name one branch or part of the government.

46

What is the political party of the President now?

14

What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?

47

What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?

15

Who is in charge of the executive branch?

16

Who makes federal laws?

17

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

18

How many U.S. Senators are there?

19

We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?

20

Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now?

21

The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

Section B Key: 13.) Any of the following: Congress, legislative, president, executive, the courts, judicial; 14.) Checks and balances or separation of powers; 15.) the President; 16.) Congress, Senate and House (of Representatives) or (U.S. or national) legislature; 17.) the Senate and House (of Representatives); 18.) 100; 19.) six; 20.) Answers will vary. [District of Columbia residents and residents of U.S. territories should answer that D.C. (or the territory where the applicant lives) has no U.S. Senators.; 21.) 435; 22.) two; 23.) Answers will vary. [Residents of territories with nonvoting Delegates or Resident Commissioners may provide the name of that Delegate or Commissioner. Also acceptable is any statement that the territory has no (voting) Representatives in Congress.]; 24.) all people of the state; 25.) Acceptable answers include: because of the state’s population, because they have more people, because some states have more people; 26.) four; 27.) November; 28.) Acceptable answers include: Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Joe Biden or Biden; 29.) Acceptable answers include: Kamala D. Harris, Kamala Harris or Harris; 30.) the Vice President; 31.) the Speaker of the House; 32.) the President; 33.) the President; 34.) the President; 35.) advises the President; 36.) Any two of the following: Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of State, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Attorney General, or Vice President; 37.) Acceptable answers include: reviews laws, explains laws, resolves disputes (disagreements), decides if a law goes against the Constitution; 38.) the Supreme Court; 39.) nine; 40.) John Roberts (John G. Roberts, Jr.); 41.) Any one of the following: to print money, to declare war, to create an army, to make treaties; 42.) Any one of the following: provide schooling and education, provide protection (police), provide safety (fire departments), give a driver’s license, approve zoning and land use; 43.) Answers will vary. [District of Columbia residents should answer that D.C. does not have a Governor.]; 45.)

Democratic and Republican; 46.) Democratic (Party); 47.) Acceptable answers include: Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi.

SECTION B

System of Government 13

ISSUE 3 2022 | CSG CAPITOL IDEAS

We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?

1

Section A Key: 1.) the Constitution; 2.) Sets up the government, Defines the government, Protects basic rights of Americans; 3.) We the People; 4.) A change (to the Constitution) or an addition (to the Constitution); 5.) The Bill of Rights; 6.) Any of the following: speech, religion, assembly, press, petition the government; 7.) 27; 8.) Any of the following: announced our independence (from Great Britain), declared our independence (from Great Britain), said that the United States is free (from Great Britain); 9.) Any two of the following: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness; 10.) You can practice any religion, or not practice a religion; 11.) Capitalist economy or market economy; 12.) Everyone must follow the law, Leaders must obey the law, Government must obey the law, No one is above the law.

36

22

SECTION C

Rights and Responsibilities

AMERICAN HISTORY SECTION A

48

There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.

Colonial Period and Independence

49

What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?

58

What is one reason colonists came to America?

50

Name one right only for United States citizens.

59

Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

51

What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?

60

What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?

61

Why did the colonists fight the British?

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

52

What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

62 63

When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

53

What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?

64

There were 13 original states. Name three.

65

What happened at the Constitutional Convention?

66

When was the Constitution written?

67

The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

68

What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?

69

Who is the “Father of Our Country?”

70

Who was the first President?

54

How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?

55

What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?

56

When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?

57

When must all men register for the Selective Service?

Section A Key: 58.) Any one of the following: freedom, political liberty, religious freedom, economic opportunity, practice their religion, escape persecution; 59.) Acceptable answers include: American Indians, Native Americans; 60.) Acceptable answers include: Africans, people from Africa; 61.) Because of high taxes (taxation without representation), because the British army stayed in their houses (boarding, quartering), because they didn’t have self-government; 62.) (Thomas) Jefferson; 63.) July 4, 1776; 64.) Any three of the following: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia; 65.) Acceptable answers include: The Constitution was written, the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution; 66.) 1787; 67.) Any one of the following: (James) Madison, (Alexander) Hamilton, (John) Jay, Publius; 68.)

Any one of the following: U.S. diplomat, oldest member of the Constitutional Convention, first Postmaster General of the United States, writer of “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” started the first free libraries; 69.) George Washington; 70.) George Washington.

ISSUE 3 2022 | CSG CAPITOL IDEAS

Section C Key: 48.) Any one of the following: Citizens 18 and older (can vote), You don’t have to pay (a poll tax) to vote, Any citizen can vote (Women and men can vote), A male citizen of any race (can vote); 49.) Any one of the following: serve on a jury, vote in a federal election; 50.) Any one of the following: vote in a federal election, run for federal office; 51.) Any two of the following: freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition the government, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms; 52.) Acceptable answers include: The United States, the flag; 53.) Any one of the following: give up loyalty to other countries, defend the Constitution and laws of the United States, obey the laws of the United States, serve in the U.S. military (if needed), serve (do important work for) the nation (if needed), be loyal to the United States; 54.) 18 and older; 55.) Any two of the following: vote, join a political party, help with a campaign, join a civic group, join a community group, give an elected official your opinion on an issue, call Senators and Representatives, publicly support or oppose an issue or policy, run for office, write to a newspaper; 56.) April 15; 57.) Acceptable answers include: at age 18, between 18 and 26.

37

SECTION B

1800s What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

72

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.

Geography

73

Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

88

Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

74

Name one problem that led to the Civil War.

89

What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?

75

What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?

90

What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?

76

What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

91

Name one U.S. territory.

77

What did Susan B. Anthony do?

92

Name one state that borders Canada.

93

Name one state that borders Mexico.

94

What is the capital of the United States?

95

Where is the Statue of Liberty?

SECTION C

Section A Key: 88.) Any one of the following: Missouri (River), Mississippi (River); 89.) Pacific (Ocean); 90.) Atlantic (Ocean); 91.) Any one of the following: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam; 92.) Any one of the following: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Alaska; 93.) Any one of the following: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas; 94.) Washington, D.C.; 95.) Acceptable answers include: New York (Harbor), Liberty Island, New Jersey, near New York City, on the Hudson (River).

Recent American History and Other Historical Information

SECTION B

78

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.

Symbols

79

Who was President during World War I?

80

Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?

81

Who did the United States fight in World War II?

82

Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?

83

During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

84

What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

85

What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?

86

What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?

Holidays

87

Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

99

Section C Key: 78.) Any one of the following: World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, (Persian) Gulf War; 79.) (Woodrow) Wilson; 80.) (Franklin) Roosevelt; 81.) Japan, Germany, Italy; 82.) World War II; 83.) Communism; 84.) Civil rights (movement); 85.) Fought for civil rights, worked for equality for all Americans; 86.) Terrorists attacked the United States; 87.) Any one of the following: Cherokee, Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa, Choctaw, Pueblo, Apache, Iroquois, Creek, Blackfeet, Seminole, Cheyenne, Arawak, Shawnee, Mohegan, Huron, Oneida, Lakota, Crow, Teton, Hopi, Inui.

ISSUE 3 2022 | CSG CAPITOL IDEAS

SECTION A

71

Section B Key: 71.) Acceptable answers include: the Louisiana Territory, Louisiana; 72.) Any one of the following: War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War; 73.)

Acceptable answers include: the Civil War, the War between the States; 74.) Any one of the following: slavery, economic reasons, states’ rights; 75.) Any one of the following: freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation), saved (or preserved) the Union, led the United States during the Civil War; 76.) Acceptable answers include: freed the slaves, freed slaves in the Confederacy, freed slaves in the Confederate states, freed slaves in most Southern states; 77.) Acceptable answers include: fought for women’s rights, fought for civil rights.

38

I N T E G R AT E D C I V I C S

96

Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

97

Why does the flag have 50 stars?

98

What is the name of the national anthem?

Section B Key: 96.) Acceptable answers include: because there were 13 original colonies, because the stripes represent the original colonies; 97.) Acceptable answers include: because there is one star for each state, because each star represents a state, because there are 50 states; 98.) The Star-Spangled Banner.

SECTION C

When do we celebrate Independence Day?

100 Name two national U.S. holidays.

Section C Key: 99.) July 4; 100.) Any two of the following: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Source: www.uscis.gov

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2018

During the 70th anniversary of Mental Health Awareness Month and second annual TD Awareness Week, 27 states make declarations.

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2022

2021

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CP-TD-US-1163 05/2022

ALL ABOUT

Elections

Election Day falls on a Tuesday each year because of long-standing consideration given to religion, agriculture and pre-automotive travel. When the day was established in 1845, many Americans set Sundays aside for rest and worship, and many delivered farm products to market on Wednesdays. Because some required a full day of travel to cast their vote, that left Tuesday as the most convenient option. As we look ahead to Election Day, here are a few more interesting facts about how the U.S. selects its leaders.

Before 1913, U.S. Senators were elected by state legislatures.

Voting is mandatory in 22 countries around the world including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Greece and Thailand.

In states with split governments, partisan divisions meant that

The 2020 presidential election set the record

seats could remain vacant for months, or even years.

J A C O B H . M Y E R S B U I LT

the first lever machine

USED IN AN ELECTION IN 1892.

The mechanical lever voting machine was patented in 1889 but it took decades for them to become commonplace. They were phased out by new technology in 2010.

for the highest voter turnout in 120 years.

160 million people — nearly 2/3 of all eligible American voters — cast their ballots in that election.

In addition to voters living in the U.S.,

NEARLY 3 MILLION U.S. CITIZENS live abroad and are eligible to vote in U.S. elections.

Astronauts can even vote from space.

Since 1944, Ohio has

at every presidential election except one.

I N T H E PA S T 2 0 Y E A R S , T H E R E H AV E B E E N MORE THAN A DOZEN R A C E S D E C I D E D BY

In 1960, Ohio voted for RICHARD NIXON instead of JOHN F. KENNEDY JR.

A SINGLE VOTE OR ENDING IN A TIE.

voted for the winner

The “I voted” sticker was first used in the early 1980s.

Initially intended to remind people to vote, the stickers slowly became a representation of community, pride and proof that you fulfilled your civic duty.

A 2017 Virginia House of Delegates race ended in a tie out of more than 23,000 votes cast. The tie was broken by pulling a name, placed in a film canister, out of a bowl.

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