Punished for... having a period? Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵

Confirmed: Katie Wilson will be mayor of Seattle, ousting the incumbent from his left. And Erika Evans will be the new city attorney, ousting the GOP city attorney after promising to take the office in a more progressive direction. What do progressives' win mean for law enforcement? NEW IN BOLTS:

After the Bucks County sheriff election, one immigrant rights organizer told me: “I know ICE will still be here, but at least in our community we get some sense of peace. People haven’t wanted to go church, to concerts, to public events, because everybody is thinking they’re going to be taken.”

A Republican sheriff in a swing county that Trump won by 0.1% signed a contract to help ICE, then lost last week by 11. New by me in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/sheriff-of-b...

In addition to military/overseas voters, young people and non-white people tend to vote later, and thus are more vulnerable to bans on counting late-arriving ballots. That is why Trump wants this change, and why plenty of red states have lately rushed to do his bidding: boltsmag.org/restrictions...

Absolutely incredible reporting by @boltsmag.org "Even just $30 in my pocket felt like a lot...It made the difference between me staying out here and me going back to prison. I could buy me something to eat, catch a bus, catch a cab...It makes a difference, and I’m telling you from experience.*

Gerrymandering Virginia will be “one of the 1st orders of business” for the legislature in January, the state’s senate majority leader tells @boltsmag.org. That was only made possible by Tuesday’s results. This + other democracy-related election effects explained here: boltsmag.org/five-ways-20...

I wrote about how this election affected voting and democracy, new in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/five-ways-20...

Jeanine Pirro tried to make an example of Sean Dunn. She ended up delivering a hero to Washington, D.C. www.huffpost.com/entry/dc-san...

Incoming NJ governor Mikie Sherrill hasn't said whether she'll uphold a state policy limiting law enforcement cooperation w/ ICE. Advocates say lawmakers must pass legislation to preserve & expand protections for NJ's 2.2 million immigrants before she takes office. boltsmag.org/immigration-...

A reminder that we are currently running our end-of-year fundraising campaign! If you appreciate reading election coverage from Bolts, consider donating. Right now, your gift will be matched!

A prominent MAGA politician in Colorado, who helped make the “Venezuelan gang takeover” story a major election issue last fall, is trailing behind two progressive challengers in her re-election bid, despite dramatically outspending them. www.9news.com/article/news...

Last night’s overwhelming Democratic sweep in Pennsylvania preserves liberal control of the state supreme courts across the Midwest’s Blue Wall—MI, PA, WI. These courts are really important for election law and voting rights. boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

It’s worth thinking today of all the elections you *aren’t* hearing about because they were unopposed. In so many sheriff and prosecutor offices in particular, including in blue-ish or even solidly blue areas, “tough-on-crime” folks often reign for many years without ever being challenged.

JUST IN: Soren Stevenson, who lost an eye due to a projectile fired by the police during the BLM protests of 2020 in Minneapolis, has won a seat on city council. @pascalsabino.bsky.social reported on his candidacy last month in a must-read: boltsmag.org/minneapolis-...

The passage of CA Prop 50 wraps a big night on the democracy/voting rights front. In addition to Prop 50, most notably: ME rejected voting restrictions, PA preserved its liberal supreme court majority, and VA cleared a path to end its Jim Crow-era system of lifetime felony disenfranchisement.

Pennsylvania Justice David Wecht to @boltsmag.org: “The projected victory for the three of us speaks well of our democracy. We all campaigned on the basis of vindicating the Pennsylvania constitution’s free and equal elections clause, and we’re all committed to continuing to vindicate that right.”

A massive result: Maine voters have rejected Question 1, a ballot measure that would have restricted mail voting and put into place strict new voter ID requirements. This outcome was no sure thing heading into tonight. The measure’s failure preserves current voter access in Maine, as 2026 looms.

Democrats have successfully defended three seats on the all-important Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This means the court will be controlled by Ds through the midterms, and almost definitely through 2028 as well. My story on the result: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

As the face of the “progressive prosecutor” movement steamrolls to a 3rd term, let me be the millionth person to note that when that movement loses elections it’s billed in national media as a crisis for the left, while the movement’s high points, of which there have been many, are largely ignored.

I suppose not surprising if you know America, but, wow, there are 2 million Muslim women in the U.S. and only just now, tonight, has even one single part of the country elected a Muslim woman to any statewide office.

Still early, but the three Democrats seeking new terms on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are all performing very, very well. This is one of the contests we’ve been watching most closely at @boltsmag.org. Background: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

We're starting to fill our election guide! Come join the Bolts party as results pop up: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Some very early results show Maine’s Question 1, a Republican measure to restrict mail voting and require voter ID, running well behind Trump in 2024, when he lost Maine by 7. For example… Newry was Harris +11, but opposed Q1 +30. Dixmont was Trump +28, but supported Q1 only +7.

Among many other takeaways: Spanberger will now inherit the power to decide whether Virginians returning from prison should have their voting rights restored. Youngkin has bucked his predecessors by using this power to deny voting rights to many thousands of people.

The officer Sandwich Guy is charged with assaulting testifies that he could feel the impact of the sandwich through his ballistic vest, and it “exploded all over my uniform.” He says he could “smell the onions and the mustard.”

You know about NYC mayor and CA Prop 50 and the VA/NJ governor races, but do check out the @boltsmag.org guide to the other 200 or so things to watch for tomorrow night: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Most likely don’t have this on the Election Day radar, but felony disenfranchisement is on the ballot next week in Virginia, an unusually harsh state for denying voting rights to people with criminal records. Major reform may be coming there, and Tuesday is pivotal. Here’s what you need to know:

Since winning a PA Supreme Court majority, Ds have: - Erased GOP gerrymander - Upheld mail voting - Rejected Trump bid to overturn results So you can imagine why Rs really want to seize the majority ahead of ‘26 + ‘28. Which brings us to Tuesday’s crucial election: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

SCOTUS just allowed Alabama's execution of Anthony Boyd: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... Justice Sotomayor wrote this vivid dissent blasting AL for using the method of nitrogen gas. @laurengill.bsky.social's reporting from an AL execution shows you why: boltsmag.org/alabama-nitr...

Maine will vote in under two weeks on a measure that would make voting a lot harder for a lot of people, including disabled folks, older folks, and anyone who struggles to meet strict ID requirements. If passed, this would really reshape voting in 2026. My deep dive: boltsmag.org/maine-questi...

For @boltsmag.org, I wrote about one group that, despite being a huge chunk of the adult population in NYC, is uniformly excluded from electoral coverage: noncitizens. A 2021 law promised many could participate in municipal elections for the first time, before it was challenged and struck down

Soren Stevenson lost an eye during a 2020 BLM protest after he was shot by police with a foam projectile. He is running for Minneapolis city council this fall. “I do talk about police accountability because it is vital to who I am as a person,” he said.

Just 17 days before the election where the GOP is trying to end Dems’ majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Alex Burness wrote the best thing you’ll read about the race. boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

“Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer.”

Everything about this case shows how easy it is to send someone to death row. Anthony Boyd was sentenced to death entirely on dubious eyewitness testimony. His lawyer had a month to prepare for trial. Alabama plans to execute him next week. My latest @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...

Alabama is set to execute Anthony Boyd in eight days. This is a must-read story by @laurengill.bsky.social, who does incredible work covering the death penalty. boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...

Yesterday, California adopted a law to raise the pay received by incarcerated firefighters when they’re fighting a fire from $1 to $7.25 per hour—meeting the federal minimum wage. Four other new laws also give new rights to incarcerated firefighters.

Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists. I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

ICYMI, my deep dive on these elections: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

I went to Pennsylvania to report on a strange and very expensive campaign season unprecedented in state history: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

Dispatch from Pennsylvania on a highly unusual state Supreme Court election—one of the few most consequential matters on the ballot anywhere in the country next month. New from me in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

Identifying public officials isn't "doxing." People have the right to know who is working for their government. Nor, for that matter, is it "radical left-wing terrorism." So it's frustrating to see platforms caving to these bad faith characterizations. www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/06/1...

Eileen O'Neill Burke made it harder for people to have their innocence claims investigated by the Cook County Conviction Integrity Unit — one of several ways her office is weakening review of wrongful convictions. Read the latest from us and @boltsmag.org:

A little-known part of Jane Goodall’s legacy is that she helped place Roots + Shoots chapters inside jails in the U.S. and Italy. Some of the participants went on post-incarceration to careers in environmental protection. I met her in 2015 at the Boulder jail—still my all-time favorite assignment.

Boston's Michelle Wu has attracted notice for standing up to Trump on ICE raids. But her stance is undermined by the city's fusion center, which civil liberties advocates have warned abt for yrs: "The whole purpose of it is federal & local law enforcement collaboration." boltsmag.org/boston-polic...

Camden had zero homicides this summer. City and county leaders credit the 2013 disbandment of its police department. Violent crime is at a 50-year low. This is amazing. www.inquirer.com/news/camden-...

It’s Election Day tomorrow! 1. Dems favored to win a congressional special in Arizona. 2. A Dem is vying to flip mayorship of Mobile, Alabama; she’d be city’s first Black woman mayor. 3. GOP defends red-leaning state legislative district in Georgia. Details on each: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Missouri Republicans are asking voters to surrender virtually all their direct democracy power. A major, fascinating ballot issue to watch in 2026.