Author

Matt Vasilogambros

Matt Vasilogambros

Matt Vasilogambros covers voting rights, gun laws and Western climate policy for Stateline. He lives in San Diego, California.

A King County, Wash., elections worker opens ballots during this November’s election. The office began stocking an overdose-reversal drug after receiving a letter laced with fentanyl in the summer; it was evacuated the day after Election Day when it got a similar envelope. Since the 2020 presidential election, state and local election officials nationwide have been bombarded with threats. (Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press)

In face of threats, election workers vow: ‘You are not disrupting the democratic process’

By: - November 29, 2023

Hundreds of election workers in Washington state’s second-largest county were busy opening mail-in ballots earlier this month when one of them came across a plain white envelope. As she cut it open, white powder leaked out. She carefully took off her gloves, put them down, backed away and called her supervisor. Workers evacuated the building […]

Participants in a Pride parage in Los Angeles in 2019.

In scrapping its LGBTQ-related travel ban, California pivots to ‘hearts and minds’

By: - October 3, 2023

In September, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom officially repealed California’s 2016 ban on state-funded travel to states with laws targeting LGBTQ+ people. The idea behind the ban — which applied to bureaucrats, lawmakers, academics and even college athletes — was to use California’s economic heft to dissuade other states from enacting such laws. By that metric, […]

voters cast their ballot in a gymnasium

As ranked choice voting gains momentum, parties in power push back

By: - August 21, 2023

Over the past decade, ranked choice voting has become increasingly popular. From conservative Utah to liberal New York City, 13 million American voters in 51 jurisdictions — including all of Alaska and Maine — now use the system, under which voters rank candidates based on preference, leading to an instant runoff in a crowded race. […]

Republican states arm teachers, fortify buildings in another year of school shootings

By: - June 14, 2023

As another school year defined by mass shootings ends in America, Republican-led state legislatures passed measures this session to fortify schools, create guidelines for active shooter drills and safety officer responses, and allow teachers to be armed. Firearm restrictions, however, were a nonstarter in red states trying to curb school shootings. The legislation pushed by GOP lawmakers […]

Lake Powell At Historic Low Levels In Drought-Stricken West

Western states agree to Colorado River water-sharing agreement

By: - May 22, 2023

The governors of Arizona, California and Nevada have announced a historic water-sharing agreement for the Colorado River in an attempt to salvage one of the West’s major sources of drinking water that has dwindled in severe drought. The agreement this week marks the culmination of months of tumultuous negotiations among seven Western states, whose 40 […]

Why Republican-led states keep leaving a group that verifies voter rolls

By: - May 22, 2023

Eight Republican-led states this year left an interstate cooperative that seeks to maintain accurate voter registration rolls, and three more may join them — a move that election security experts say is fueled by conspiracy theories. Earlier this month, Virginia’s top election official said the state would become the latest to stop participating in the […]