Explore Criminal Justice on the 2020 Ballot

Thousands of prosecutors, sheriffs, governors, mayors, and other state and local officials will be elected in 2020, on the heels of a series of wins by candidates who ran on fighting mass incarceration in 2019. These offices set the policies that shape the prison population, the criminal legal system, cooperation with ICE, and much more.

This page features The Appeal: Political Report’s reporting and analyses of these often-overlooked but crucial elections.

You can now use our interactive tool to track our still-ongoing coverage of these battlegrounds. Or else explore chronologically below. And note that this map is not exhaustive of the hundreds of 2020 races with implications for criminal justice.

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Please Select...AL: Jail Referendums (March results)AZ: Arizona Marijuana ReferendumAZ: Maricopa County ProsecutorAZ: Maricopa County SheriffAZ: Pima County ProsecutorCA: Los Angeles County ProsecutorCA: Los Angeles County Supervisor and Measure JCA: Prop 17CA: Prop 20CA: Prop 25CO: Primers on ProsecutorsCO: San Luis Valley ProsecutorFL: Miami-Dade MayorFL: Orlando and Tampa ProsecutorsFL: Pinellas County SheriffGA: Athens Prosecutor and SheriffGA: Cobb County and Gwinnett County SheriffsHI: Honolulu ProsecutorIL: Cook County JudgeIL: DeKalb County ProsecutorIL: Lake County ProsecutorKS: Shawnee County ProsecutorLA: New Orleans JudgesLA: New Orleans ProsecutorMA: Norfolk County SheriffMD: PG County School BoardMI: Ingham County ProsecutorMI: Oakland County Prosecutor and SheriffMI: Washtenaw County ProsecutorMO: Medicaid Referendum (August result)MS: Mississippi Medical Marijuana ReferendumMT: Montana Marijuana ReferendumNC: GovernorNC: Supreme CourtNJ: New Jersey Marijuana ReferendumNM: Primer on ProsecutorsNV: Clark County judgesNY: Westchester County ProsecutorOH: Franklin County ProsecutorOH: Hamilton County ProsecutorOH: Hamilton County SheriffOH: Primer on ProsecutorsOK: ReferendumOR: Measures 109 & 110OR: Multnomah and Wasco County Prosecutors (May results)OR: Portland MayorOR: Primer on ProsecutorsSC: Charleston and Berkeley Counties ProsecutorSC: Charleston County SheriffSD: South Dakota Marijuana ReferendaTX: Fort Bend County SheriffTX: Harris County SheriffTX: House District 47TX: Nueces County ProsecutorTX: Tarrant County SheriffTX: Travis County DAVT: Vermont High BailiffsWA: 23rd DistrictWI: Prosecutors PrimerWI: Supreme Court (April election)

Key races: Referendum   Sheriff   Prosecutor   Judges   Other State or Local Officials

To use the interactive version of the map, please use a nonmobile device.

And the Political Report provides additional resources: A calendar of 2020 elections, with the full list of counties electing their sheriffs and prosecutors. A spreadsheet that identifies candidates for prosecutor and sheriff shortly after a state’s filing deadline.

Two Nationwide Guides to Nov. 3