The Conversation

How a 2013 US Supreme Court ruling enabled states to enact election laws without federal approval

Written by Joshua F.J. Inwood, Professor of Geography and Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State

Terry Hubbard, a former felon, voted in the 2020 presidential election and was arrested two years later in Florida on voter fraud charges.Josh Ritchie for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Since 2019, legislators and election officials in Florida have revised, passed and enforced restrictive voting laws that make it harder for poor people,...

Conservative US Supreme Court reconsidering affirmative action, leaving the use of race in college admissions on the brink of extinction

Written by Travis Knoll, Adjunct Professor of History, University of North Carolina – Charlotte

The U.S. Supreme Court in its official portrait on Oct. 7, 2022.Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. military learned a valuable lesson about race during the Vietnam War: Diversity does not happen without affirmative action.

That helps explain why a distinguished group of 35 military officials wrote a brief to the Supreme Court supporting...

Abortion is not influencing most voters as the midterms approach – economic issues are predominating in new survey

Written by Matthew A Baum, Marvin Kalb Professor of Global Communications & Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Amy Cox, a Democratic candidate running to be an Ohio state representative, speaks with a potential voter on Oct. 23, 2022. Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images

Since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, election observers have raised questions about whether and how the issue...

Beyond passenger cars and pickups: 5 questions answered about electrifying trucks

Written by Daniel Sperling, Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Founding Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis

Trucks line up to load and unload at the Port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California.Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

As part of its effort to reduce air pollution and cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, California is pursuing aggressive policies to promote clean trucks. The state already requires that...

How to ensure election integrity and accuracy – 3 essential reads

Written by Jeff Inglis, Freelance Editor, The Conversation US

A county clerk, far left, swears in a group of Nevada residents to conduct a hand count of ballots on Oct. 26, 2022.AP Photo/Gabe Stern

It’s almost certain there will be questions about the integrity of the 2022 midterm elections. In fact, some concerns about machine counting have already sparked one Nevada county to seek to hand-count all...

Vigilantes at the polls were a threat in the 19th century, too, but the laws put in place then may not work in 2022

Written by Kristin Kanthak, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

State laws dictate how far away campaign signs and workers need to be from polling places. AP Photo/Eric Gay

Author Edgar Allan Poe, the 19th-century master of American macabre fiction, may have died of dirty politics. According to legend, a gang of party “poll hustlers” kidnapped and drugged him. They forced him to vote, then abandoned...

Fetterman's struggles with language highlight the challenges after a stroke – a vascular neurologist explains aphasia and the path to recovery

Written by Andrew M. Southerland, Professor of Neurology and Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia

The stroke suffered by U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has shed light on little-known aspects of stroke recovery.Mark Makela/Getty Images News via Getty Images

John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for a hotly contested U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, has been drawing scrutiny for his performance in his first post-stroke broadcast interview...

With over-the-counter birth control pills likely to be approved, pharmacists and pharmacies could play an ever-increasing role in reproductive health care

Written by Lucas Berenbrok, Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences

The over-the-counter birth control pill will not require medical examinations or prescriptions prior to purchase.Sergey Mironov/Moment via Getty Images

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to review a drugmaker’s application for the first over-the-counter birth control pill in November 2022, with a decision expected in the first half...

Sacheen Littlefeather and ethnic fraud – why the truth is crucial, even it it means losing an American Indian hero

Written by Dina Gilio Whitaker, Lecturer on American Indian Studies, California State University San Marcos

Sacheen Littlefeather speaks at the 45th Academy Awards.Bettmann/Getty Images

When Sacheen Littlefeather died on Oct. 2, 2022, obituaries reflecting on the actress and activist’s life held her up as a Native American trailblazer.

But there is serious issue with this assessment: A suspicion among those who knew her – myself included...

Hypocrisy is beneath them – political figures in the Trump era don't bother concealing their misdeeds

Written by Rachel Hadas, Professor of English, Rutgers University - Newark

Infowars founder Alex Jones in court during his Sandy Hook defamation damages trial in Waterbury, Conn., Sept. 22, 2022. Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool, File

There seems to be no sense of shame or its cousin, guilt, in our time.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tormented the parents of Sandy Hook’s murdered children by...