Maricopa County anticipated a lawsuit like Kari Lake's. So it changed how it reviews voter signatures.

Tulsa Public Schools drew on expertise across many sectors and extensive neighborhood input to address the issue of thousands of empty seats in local schools. Through a community-focused process, they were able to mindfully close under-utilized schools and better maximize the community's resources for students.

The Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence in Quebec has expanded rapidly, becoming a model for programs around the world. What sets it apart from projects in Europe and the United States is that it confronts extremism of all stripes — not just Islamist — and focuses on behavior that signals the risk of violence, not just radical ideas, only involving law enforcement as a last resort.

Corruption in Mexico is ingrained in all systems and interactions. President Vicente Fox and his administration are trying to change this. Their mentality is that for corruption to truly be fought the government needs to actively make change and implement rules to counteract it, and some of Fox's changes are now beginning to see improvements.

Unprecedented challenges are frequently popping up with the onset of climate change, so governments too have to adjust their processes and strategies. Some new procurement tools used by several different cities include requests for ideas, competitions, and performance contracts. This article looks at two places using these new and publicly accessible procurement tools—Prince Georges County, MD, and Norfolk, VA—to see how it impacts their success.

The coronavirus made cramped or high-risk polling locations untenable so at least 39 sports arenas have opened up their facilities for voting. Their expansive size allows them to welcome large numbers of voters while maintaining social distancing protocols. Many are outdoors, which lowers the risk of transmitting the virus even further. Prompted by calls from athletes, arena owners’ site the summer’s racial-justice demonstrations as inspiration for supplying the spaces since voting is a key way to create definitive changes. Voters were thrilled to cast their ballots in a sports arena.

A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.

With support from Accountability Lab and Transparency International, seven countries have held “Integrity Idol” contests to recognize their most honest and helpful public servants. Winners have become people others want to emulate. The contests help fight corruption and inspire civic participation.

Non-citizen residents of Takoma Park, Maryland have been able to vote in municipal elections since 1993, and 16- and 17-year-olds there have had access to the ballot since 2013. Residents of the city, where roughly 30% of the population was born outside of the United States, say participating in city elections makes them feel more welcome in the community and helps them get invested in local issues.

To assuage concerns around election security, Ada County, Ohio created an online tool called Ballot Verifier that allows users to search every ballot cast in the county since 2022. County officials invited local election skeptics to be the first to test the new tool and received positive feedback on its level of transparency.

In its first presidential election with state-mandated early voting, which allowed voters to cast their ballots in-person for nine days before election day, Midland County, Mich. saw roughly 20% of its voters utilize early voting and had high turnout at 70.05%. Officials reported that they were able to streamline the early voting process with Ballot on Demand equipment that allowed voters to print their ballots on-site rather than requiring the county to print ballots in advance.