Daily Brew: December 20, 2018

December 20, 2018

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Today's Brew has a quick update on party swaps + we are hiring summer interns!   Welcome to the Thursday, December 20 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Seven state legislators have changed partisan affiliation in 2018 What was the last time an automatic ballot referral resulted in a constitutional convention being held? Know someone who wants to join the Ballotpedia team? We need Summer 2019 interns. Two KS lawmakers switch from GOP to Democratic Party, making seven state legislators to change partisan affiliation this year Kansas state Rep. Stephanie Clayton and state Sen. Dinah Sykes announced Wednesday that they were changing their partisan affiliation from Republican to Democrat. They joined State Sen. Barbara Bollier who made the same announcement last Wednesday. Their switches make seven state legislators to change their partisan affiliation this year. We've identified 113 state legislators who [[State legislators who have switched political party affiliation|switched parties]] since 1994, including 34 state senators and 79 state representatives. Seventy went from Democratic to Republican and 16 from Republican to Democratic. The remainder became independents. The south has seen the most party switches among state legislators in the past 24 years. Georgia leads the way with 12 new Republicans and one new Democrat. Mississippi and Alabama follow with 12 party switches each. Number of party switches as of December 19, 2018 Learn more When was the last time an automatic ballot referral resulted in a constitutional convention being held? On Monday, we discussed statewide ballot measures dealing with constitutional conventions. In fourteen states, the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention is automatically referred to a statewide ballot without any requirement for a vote of the state legislature to place the question on the ballot. When was the last time voters approved one of these measures? No peaking! Rhode Island, 1984 →   Maryland, 2002 →   Wisconsin, 1994 →   California, 1976 → Know someone who wants to join the Ballotpedia team? We need Summer 2019 interns. As an intern, you will go through a similar onboarding experience to full-time Ballotpedia employees. You will learn how to code the Ballotpedia website, be oriented to Ballotpedia’s style guide, learn about what we do to prevent and detect bias in our resources, and much more. Following orientation, you will join either the Editorial or Communications teams, working alongside full and part-time staff members. In addition to your onboarding experience, and the experience you will develop working in your assigned area, you will also have the opportunity to attend topical meetings or webinars. Ballotpedia’s Summer 2019 internship runs from Monday, June 3 through Friday, August 9. Ballotpedia’s summer internship is a full-time internship program; interns will work 40 hours per week for the duration of the 10-week internship. Ballotpedia is happy to facilitate credit for your internship experience if that is available to you. If you will be seeking credit for your internship, and if there is anything that Ballotpedia will need to do in order to assist you, please include that information in the same file as your cover letter. Click here to learn more about our program and to apply →