Maryland became the sixth state in as many years to repeal the death penalty. The fate of the state’s five remaining death row inmates is up to Governor Martin O'Malley. more

In 2012, the District of Columbia issued voters an unprecedented number of special ballots—which are the same as provisional ballots, according to the city’s 2012 After-Action report. This was due in part to the city’s use of Election Day registration for the first time in a presidential election. more

This brief finds that 30 cities at the center of the nation’s most populous metropolitan areas faced more than $192 billion in unpaid commitments for pensions and other retiree benefits, primarily health care, as of fiscal 2009 and are employing a variety of strategies to address these shortfalls.

The city of Albuquerque is holding a special election to amend the city charter that will be conducted entirely by mail, and the early returns show some problems with the process. more

States are targeting Medicaid fraud and abuse with an array of policies and tools. To help policy makers learn about steps taken in their state and across the country, the State Health Care Spending Project created an online database containing hundreds of practices found to be promising by state and federal Medicaid agencies.