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All opinions on this site are my own, not my employer's.

Fact check: The audacity of nope

Dan Liljenquist did indeed cast fewer "nay" votes than average during his time as a state senator.

A couple weeks, Dan Liljenquist posted a campaign video called “Audacity of Nope” to Youtube. In brief, he argued that the government should say “no” more often when people request government action. Today, I’m seeing people on Twitter (@JulianBabbitt, @TerryLeeCamp, … Continue reading

Why is Utah?s turnout falling?

In the 1980s, Utah ranked in the top 10 for voter turnout; since 2006, Utah has ranked in the bottom 5. Why?

Earlier today, I wrote about Utah’s declining turnout, and about claims made yesterday in a legislative committee that we could improve Utah’s turnout by removing inactive voters from the registration rolls. In the 1980s, Utah ranked in the top 10 … Continue reading

Purging Utah?s voter rolls will not boost turnout

Utah's abysmal turnout is not caused by bloated registration rolls. It is caused by citizen choosing not to participate.

Yesterday, a legislative committee debated legislation that would remove a citizen from the voter registration rolls if he or she fails to participate in consecutive elections. The bill’s sponsor claims that this legislation would boost Utah’s voter turnout rate compared … Continue reading

How many bills were ready on day one?

Legislators may be showing an increased willingness to run legislation that has not been subject to a thorough vetting during the interim months.

The Utah legislature opened its 2012 general session today. From a quick count, it appears that 211 bills were introduced this morning. Introduction is the first step toward passage, although many of those bills will ultimately fail. Let’s compare the … Continue reading

Profiles of Utah legislators

The 2012 legislative session is coming. Here’s a couple of things to help you get ready. First, I’ve taken data that I’ve written about in the past (such as ideology scores, legislator absenteeism, bill sponsorship activity, and floor power) and … Continue reading

Be careful with district maps

Media outlets would be wise to verify that they have the correct district maps.

I’m just now catching up on all the news from the past few days. It looks like people might be a little confused about district maps. To illustrate a story about Jim Matheson’s chances in Utah’s new 4th Congressional district, … Continue reading

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My wonderful family, Oct 2010

Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Course announcements

 
PlSc 399r, Utah Legislative Internship

Capitol Friday

Thursday, January 26th, 2012. I plan to float around the capitol tomorrow morning from around 9 to 11. I'll bump into some of you and not others, and that's okay. If, for any [continued ...]

 
PlSc 297, Legislative Internship Preparation

Letter grades

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012. If you log in to the PlSc 297 website you can see your final letter grade. I'll be posting these officially to BYU's records in a week or so, so let [continued ...]

 
PlSc 297, Legislative Internship Preparation

Final exam notes

Monday, January 23rd, 2012. The Testing Center performs an item analysis of every question on every multiple choice exam. I have looked carefully over the item analysis and [continued ...]

 
PlSc 399r, Utah Legislative Internship

Miscellany

Thursday, January 19th, 2012. Tomorrow (Friday) I'll be leaving around 2, so come by earlier than that if you're planning to stop by for some reason (such as to go over your Excel [continued ...]

 
PlSc 399r, Utah Legislative Internship

Bill outcomes

Thursday, January 19th, 2012. I'm looking over some asst Bs. In your lists of sponsored bills, most of you are characterizing each bill as either "passed" or "failed." There are [continued ...]

 
PlSc 297, Legislative Internship Preparation

Check my gradebook for accuracy

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012. Please visit the PlSc 297 website and log in. (To log in, look in the extreme upper right of my website. Click "log in," then click "what is my [continued ...]

 
PlSc 399r, Utah Legislative Internship

Bus passes

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012. Make sure you're in the habit of checking your state email address daily, especially if you're hoping for a bus pass. They're in now.

 
PlSc 399r, Utah Legislative Internship

District maps

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012. The instructions for assts A through C give a URL to find district maps. Turns out those district maps don't include district numbers. So go to this [continued ...]

 
PlSc 399r, Utah Legislative Internship

How to submit assts A through C. Also skills assignment redos.

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012. The instructions for assts A through C ask you to submit a hard copy if you are on campus (e.g. to take the final), but to use a particular email [continued ...]

 
PlSc 297, Legislative Internship Preparation

Intern assignments

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012. Legislative staff have sent you the name of your assigned legislator by email (probably to your new legislative email account). Anything that was sent [continued ...]

Note that this list may be up to 12 hours out of date.