Daily Brew: September 25, 2018

September 25, 2018

Today's Brew brings you a grammar update from the State Department + a look at our latest research collaboration   Welcome to the Tuesday, September 25 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Administrative agency guidance documents can deal with a variety of issues, including commas Research collaboration with FiveThirtyEight: “We Looked At Hundreds Of Endorsements. Here’s Who Republicans Are Listening To” Four more school board recall elections still to come this year Pompeo issues administrative agency guidance on staff comma usage At one Ballotpedia meeting a few years ago, our staff stood up and cheered when it was announced that we were officially adopting the Oxford comma. When I saw this story, I had to share. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a memo to State Department staff earlier this month featuring updated guidance on the proper usage of commas in agency documents. The memo included several examples of proper comma usage according to the Chicago Manual of Style. Pompeo’s recent memo demonstrates the variety of topics that can be addressed through administrative agency guidance documents. Government agencies create such documents to explain, interpret, or advise interested parties about rules, laws, and procedures. While some guidance documents clarify how agencies ought to administer regulations and programs, others issue instructions, manuals, and guidelines for agency staff. Here's more information about guidance documents Research collaboration with FiveThirtyEight: “We Looked At Hundreds Of Endorsements. Here’s Who Republicans Are Listening To” Last month, I shared with you analysis from the political news and polling group FiveThirtyEight about the direction of the Democratic Party in the 2018 elections. FiveThirtyEight released the Republican version this morning. Ballotpedia helped assemble the research — doing what we do best, figuring out the facts — while FiveThirtyEight conducted the data analysis. From FiveThirtyEight: “Between Feb. 27 and Sept. 13, 774 people appeared on the ballot this year in 'open' Republican primaries — those with no Republican incumbent — for Senate, House and governor. Like we did with Democrats earlier this year, FiveThirtyEight, Ballotpedia and ABC News teamed up to look at every single one of those candidates and see which GOP-affiliated people and organizations supported which candidates. Using campaigns’ financial filings, endorsement information from various interest groups and, of course, Trump tweets, we attempted to quantify which wing of today’s Republican Party best reflects the preferences and mood of rank-and-file voters.” Read about their findings here→ Four school board recall elections still to come this year We've tracked 32 school board recall efforts across the country this year, targeting 72 board members. Six of those efforts resulted in recall elections, and another four recall elections will be held in October and November. Two recall elections, each targeting one board member, will be held on October 9 in Colorado and Wisconsin. Another two recall elections, each targeting four members, will be held on November 6 in Michigan. Four of the six recall efforts already on the ballot in 2018 were approved, causing nine board members to be removed from office. The fifth recall election was defeated, and the targeted member kept his seat. The sixth recall election was held after the board member resigned, so it was used to elect her replacement. Learn more about school board recalls→ Ballotpedia depends on the support of our readers. The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns. Please click here to support our work→ Follow on Twitter   Friend on Facebook Copyright © %%current_year_YYYY%%, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: %%account_address%% Decide which emails you want from Ballotpedia. Unsubscribe or update subscription preferences.