Approximately half the states require that provisional ballots must be cast in the voter’s home precinct, whereas the other half of the states allow the ballot to be cast in other polling places. The Fair Elections Legal Network has published an eight-page study that makes the case for allowing provisional ballots to be cast outside of the home precinct. The Fair Elections Legal Network was founded in 2006, and it serves as a resource for voters and activists who work for voters to increase the ease of voting. This particular report is authored by Jon Sherman, formerly a staff attorney with the ACLU Voting Rights Office in Atlanta. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On December 17, Alabama held a special election for U.S. House, First District. Although independent candidate James Hall put up a strong legal fight to win a spot on the ballot, he was not on the ballot. The only two candidates on the ballot were Republican Bradley Byrne and Democrat Burton LeFlore. With a few precincts still not reporting from Mobile County, the vote was: Byrne 32,506; LeFlore 13,989.

When this district had last voted, in November 2012, Jo Bonner, the Republican incumbent, had been the only name on the ballot. He had polled 196,374 votes, with 4,302 miscellaneous write-ins for others.

It is startling that the new member of Congress from the First District was elected with only 32,506 votes, plus the few that remain to be counted. Turnout was exceptionally low for a U.S. House election.

Peter Aldhous, a freelance journalist who covers science, social science, and journalism, writes here at Medium that polarization and partisanship in the United States has been the rule, not the exception, for most of U.S. history. His analysis determines that the U.S. Constitution is the reason, especially the separation of powers. Thanks to The Mischiefs of Faction for the link.