On the Ballot

In today’s partisan political landscape, many outlets and pundits did not expect there to be significant levels of split ticket voting this cycle. Though as the dust settles nearly a month after the election, ticket splitting looks to have played a big role in some of the tightest races. Kyle Kondik — managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics — joins the show long with Ballotpedia managing editor Cory Eucalittlo to pore over the data and highlight the biggest surprises and trends to keep an eye out for in ‘26.

Political recounts typically occur in the event of a close margin of victory, following accusations of election fraud, or due to the possibility of administrative errors. They can either occur automatically and be requested by a candidate or voters at every level of government, from local offices up to presidential elections. And, when they happen, recalls can cause a whole lot of confusion in the process.

CA voters recalled both Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on Nov. 5. The recalls are first-of-their-kind, with Thao being the first Oakland mayor and Price the first Alameda County district attorney to be recalled. Joshua Spivak — author of the Recall Elections Blog — joined the show to help us take a look at this year’s landscape, how it compares to what we’ve seen in recent years, and what we should look out for next year.

By retaining control of the lower chamber of congress, Republicans now are poised to enter the new year with a federal trifecta. Erin Covey — who leads The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter’s coverage of the House — joined the show to break down why some states take so long to tabulate votes, what the races yet to be called look like, what trends she’s noticing in the House results so far, and how having a federal trifecta will impact how Republicans carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.

Veteran pollster and political analyst Scott Rasmussen was one of the first experts to call a victory for president elect Donald Trump on the night of November 5th. Hear his thoughts on the accuracy of polling this cycle

Pivot Counties are the 206 counties nationwide we identified as having voted for Barack Obama (D) in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Media and political observers sometimes refer to these counties as swing counties. Ballotpedia defined Pivot Counties Trump won in 2020 as Retained Pivot Counties and those Joe Biden (D) won as Boomerang Pivot Counties.

Voters in 41 states decided on 146 statewide ballot measures on November 5th, and as of the 7th at 12:00 PM ET, 87 (59.6%) statewide ballot measures were approved, 46 (31.5%) were defeated, and 13 (8.9%) remained uncalled. Ryan Byrne — the head of our ballot measures team — joins the show to share what we know so far, how the major trends played out, and what it might all mean for direct democracy in 2025.

Roughly 83 million people have voted early in this year's election. How does that compare to what we saw in 2020? And what can we learn from who’s choosing to vote early this time around? We welcome the University of Florida’s Michael McDonald—one of the country’s foremost experts on early voting—to the show to break down his analysis of early voting and key anecdotes of from swing states.