Guides, explainers, and analysis about how U.S. government works — and how to make yours work for you.
21 articles · Page 1 of 5
New Hampshire's legislature meets for a few months a year and pays its members about $100. California's meets almost year-round with six-figure salaries and hundreds of staffers. Both are "state legislatures" — but they barely resemble each other.
Your U.S. Representative votes on national defense and federal taxes. Your state legislator votes on your driver's license rules, your kid's school funding, and whether your rent can be raised without notice. Most people can name the first and have never heard of the second.
Confused about who to call when the pothole on your street doesn't get fixed, or why Congress can't do anything about your local school board? Here's the actual division of labor between all three levels of American government.
Some states let you register the same day you vote. Others cut you off a full month before Election Day. There's no single national deadline — here's why they differ, and how to find the exact date for where you live.
The second-most-populous state in the country runs its entire legislature on a 140-day session held once every two years. Here's how Texas fits a full state's worth of lawmaking into that compressed window — and why it was designed that way on purpose.