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New Eagles Edge Calls Jalyx Hunt 'a Freak Athlete'
The Philadelphia Eagles are being urged to sign an elite veteran pass rusher like Von Miller. Greenard raved about 2025 Eagles sack leader Jalyx Hunt, referring to him as "a freak" in an interview with the Eagles website. Hunt, who every team could have drafted before the Eagles selected him 94th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, had a breakout 2025 season.
CDC cuts leave US less prepared for disease outbreaks, former officials warn
As measles, hantavirus and cyclospora spread, experts say lost staff and expertise are slowing the response
Many kids don’t eat enough veggies. Amid a parasite outbreak in the US, what’s a parent to do?
An outbreak of cyclospora has some people eating less produce, but a global study found kids eat too few fruits and vegetables. Here’s what parents should know.
Powering America's Genesis Mission: Microsoft's commitment to scientific discovery
Today, we’re excited to share a long-term commitment to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission, backed by a $60 million investment designed to accelerate AI for science and the breakthroughs it can deliver for the country. This deepened commitment includes Microsoft’s new Scientific Partnership Advancing Research & Knowledge coordination hub and program office, otherwise...
New entertainment venue The Nox will break ground in Mesa
The Bongiorno family — best known for Potato Barn — is expanding its footprint with a new entertainment venue, The Nox.
DOE Unveils First Genesis Mission Awards for AI-Driven Science
Nearly 300 projects selected from historic RFA response spanning all 50 states to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, discovery science, and national security. WASHINGTON, July 22, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the first projects selected under the Genesis Mission Request for Applications (RFA). The national portfolio of research teams will help develop […]
American scientists see prosecutions as part of federal campaign against them
Federal officials charged two virologists they stopped en route from an African disease outbreak with violating import rules. But scientists tell KFF Health News the inactivated samples they carried posed no threat to the public, and they characterize the arrests as part of a government harassment campaign.
Tower of small condos rising in Arts & Entertainment District
Construction has begun on a condominium in Downtown Miami’s Arts and Entertainment District. RSP Architects announced the groundbreaking of 14 ROC Miami, a 31-story residential tower in the growing neighborhood. Completion is due in 2028. The
Arte Moreno Breaks Silence On Selling Zach Neto
The Angels are finally listening to offers for Zach Neto as interim GM John Mozeliak shifts the team's strategy ahead of the trade deadline.
Bucs' Trotter Named Training Camp ‘Rookie to Watch’
As Todd Bowles faces a make-or-break season, second-round pick Josiah Trotter emerges as the heir to Lavonte David’s legacy in a revamped Tampa Bay defense.
'It makes me different': Meet the women breaking world records in lumberjack sports
The BBC finds out what is driving the sports' increasing popularity with women and what it takes to be the best.
Fifth person dies in Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NYC neighborhood
The New York City health department said it has identified at least 82 cases of the disease in an outbreak in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
US says more than 1,400 infected by parasitic Cyclospora illness outbreak
US officials claim evidence points to lettuce grown in Mexico, which Mexico's Health Ministry disputes.
Fifth Legionnaires' death confirmed as dozens of NYC buildings found with live bacteria
A fifth person has died as a result of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Manhattan, the health department said, which also shared that dozens of buildings were found to have live legionella bacteria in their cooling towers.
Fifth person dies in Upper East Side Legionnaires’ outbreak
As of Tuesday, there had been 82 reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease associated with the outbreak.
Speaker Menin criticizes Mamdani administration's response to Legionnaires'
City health officials said the source of the Upper East Side outbreak has likely been identified.
Attempted kidnapping, break-in at day care likely tied to mental health issues, docs say
Two separate incidents, which according to court documents, are likely related to mental health issues and drug psychosis.
Mass. lettuce farm says product safe to eat, outbreak has impacted business
Health worker being monitored for Ebola in London hospital after working in DRC
UK resident was evacuated from Democratic Republic of the Congo where there is an outbreak of the disease
A break-in created a new slogan for a Galveston bagel business owner to cover damage costs
A bagel store owner in Galveston is turning a burglary into a slogan and using the words to help cover the costs of damages.
RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is ‘under control’ as Mexico casts doubt on link to Taylor Farms facility
Mexico said its own investigation hasn’t found evidence linking the outbreak to the Taylor Farms facility in central Mexico.
RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is 'under control' amid at least 1,600 cases in 5 states
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Tuesday that the multi-state cyclosporiasis outbreak in the U.S. is "under control."
Deputies seek pair for information after break-in at Buncombe County business
Detectives with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office are asking for the public's help identifying a man and woman they want to speak with regarding a break-in.
Power grid serving Northern Illinois faces breakup risk as feds weigh fate
A frustrated Trump administration wants major changes to the operator of America’s largest power grid as federal regulators meet this week.
Why have political double standards gotten worse?
Are double standards becoming the norm in American politics? In this episode of “Make It Make Sense,” Carine Hajjar and Brad Palumbo, an independent journalist and YouTube creator, break down the growing fractures on both the left and the right. They discuss recent Senate races involving Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed; the controversy surrounding Ken Paxton in Texas; and how media echo chambers, viral clips and conspiracy theories are pushing the country further apart.
Breaking down N.C. U.S. Senate candidates' latest finance reports
With fundraising numbers in the millions, one expert breaks down what it means for the election, the role outside donors will play and much more.
49ers roster preview: Why Carver Willis needs a redshirt year
Breaking down the 90 players on the 49ers’ offseason roster in 90 posts (over 90 or so days). Today is OL Carver Willis
Ex-Giants Draft Pick Considered Breakout Coach For Broncos
The post-Tom Coughlin New York Giants culture has been horrible, but Davis Webb evidently learned a thing or two. The Giants' third-round pick of the 2017 NFL Draft was named as a breakout coaching candidate, while serving as the Denver Broncos offensive coordinator under ex-Giants coordinator Sean Payton. Webb spent two tours with the Giants, initially backing up both Eli Manning and Geno Smith during the controversial 2017 season under Ben McAdoo.
Cyclosporiasis outbreak in the US, by the numbers
Some US states are facing a large and growing outbreak of diarrhea caused by cyclospora, a microscopic parasite that can contaminate fresh food or water.
New Eagles DBs Coach Named Breakout Coach to Watch
Vic Fangio turned Christian Parker from a relative unknown to defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. Joe Kasper, the new Eagles DBs coach and pass-game coordinator, was named as the Philadelphia's assistant coach to break out in 2026 by The Athletic.
Lunchbreak: Vikings SKOL Chant Tops Sports Illustrated’s Ranking of NFL Rallying Cries
Minnesota Vikings Latest News
NC health officials report over 500 cyclosporiasis cases
There have been more than 500 cases of cyclosporiasis reported in North Carolina since the beginning of May. But officials say the state does not seem to be associated with the Taco Bell outbreak.
Giants Coaching Holdover Named Potential Breakout Candidate in 2026
John Harbaugh has a knack for developing elite coaching minds, and ironically one of the New York Giants' best is a guy who has been in the facility for years. Outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen, who has spent the past two years coaching the Giants' edge unit, was named as an assistant coach to watch by The Athletic. Bullen was initially hired by since-fired head coach Brian Daboll, yet he survived the cultural purge from Harbaugh, who even added "run-game coordinator" to his title.
Cyclosporiasis Outbreak: Cases surge across NC as health officials work to find source
North Carolina health officials confirm hundreds of new cases of Cyclospora in the past week as investigators continue searching for the source of the outbreak.
WNC deputies investigate breaking and entering at business
Seeking identification of a man and woman at the scene
Cam Schlittler Praises Aaron Boone's Leadership Amid Yankees' Playoff Push
The New York Yankees are looking to get hot out of the All-Star break. Since returning, they've gone 2-2, but have picked up back-to-back wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Yankees are aiming to make a third straight postseason appearance.
Deputies searching for 2 connected with breaking and entering at Buncombe Co. business
Anyone with information is asked to contact Deputy Conrad at (828) 250-6670 or cyril.conrad@buncombenc.gov.
‘Marathon’ PvE Mode Is Live Today, But Expectations Should Be Tempered
Marathon is launching its Vault Breaker PvE experimental mode today, a type of run that removes all opposing teams, sends players into its hardest map
Cyclospora False Positive? Why We Should Still Trust Outbreak Science
Cyclospora lab test retraction by FDA does not negate outbreak science.
5 college football coaches on the hot seat in 2026
Every college football season comes with pressure. But for some head coaches, the 2026 season could be make-or-break. Expectations have never been higher. With the expanded College Football Playoff, bigger NIL budgets, stronger recruiting classes and heavy use of the…
A Historic Data-Sharing Agreement Affirms Tribal Authority and Aims to Improve Public Health
Diseases do not recognize borders, but the laws, regulations, and systems governing critical public health data often do. Improving how data is shared across different jurisdictions—including state and Tribal governments—better prepares public health departments to understand and respond to disease outbreaks and other public health issues while advancing the unique issue of Tribal data sovereignty, the right of a Tribal nation to collect and manage its own data.
Red Sox beats Orioles 6-5 to end Baltimore's 7-game streak
Caleb Durbin hit a tiebreaking homer over the Green Monster with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Boston Red Sox extended the second-longest winning streak in club history to 14 games, beating Baltimore 6-5 to snap the Orioles' season-best win streak at seven.
Abdul El-Sayed Is an Epidemiologist Running for Senate. His State Is a Public Health Disaster
Michigan has been at the epicenter of the wildfire smoke and explosive diarrhea outbreaks. The progressive Democrat talks to WIRED about how he would tackle the forces behind them if he’s elected.
Health officials believe source of deadly NYC Legionnaires' outbreak has been eliminated
MAGA candidates keep losing in Arizona. Andy Biggs is out to break the trend
The fronrunner for the GOP nomination for governor hopes he fares better than MAGA-aligned Blake Masters and Kari Lake did in their recent statewide contests.
Michigan extends key tax breaks for billions of dollars of real estate development in Detroit
Real estate developers are breathing a sigh of relief now that state lawmakers have agreed to an extension of two key property tax abatements used for projects around Michigan.
Can I eat lettuce now? What to know about the cyclosporiasis outbreak.
As investigators continue to study the outbreak and its possible sources, many people have questions about what's safe to eat. Here's the latest advice.
Parasitic infections likely linked to farming practices, not restaurants
Two state experts break down the mysteries around a complicated foodborne infection, Cyclosporiasis, that’s been gaining traction in North Carolina and across the nation.
Montclair State University Breaks Ground on $120 Million Interdisciplinary Science Building
State-of-the-art facility will create new science research and interdisciplinary collaboration spaces as Montclair continues momentum
Freedom, trust and the future of science: Nobel laureates reflect on the ideas shaping tomorrow
Behind every scientific discovery are years, sometimes decades, of fundamental research, failed experiments, uncertain funding, international collaboration and the freedom to pursue questions without knowing where they might lead. The Nobel laureates recently gathered at the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany argued that scientific breakthroughs depend on far more than brilliant ideas alone. Those conversations unfolded against the backdrop of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and growing geopolitical competition. The question running through the discussions was therefore broader than science itself: what conditions make discovery possible? ‘Europe is a space of freedom’
Cyclosporiasis: the science, risks and red flags
What’s small, round and could give you explosive diarrhea? Cyclospora parasites. The diarrheal disease they cause is wreaking havoc on thousands this summer in what is the largest known flare up in the U.S. ever. What’s causing it and what can we do about it? NPR’s Joseph Kim joins host Nate Rott to talk about the outbreak – and how to protect yourself and your loved ones.Read more of Joseph’s reporting on cyclosporiasis here. Interested in more science in the news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Nintendo says it has no legal duty to pass its U.S. tariff refunds on to consumers
Nintendo is asking a court to dismiss a proposed class action suit that was filed this past spring by gamers who say the Mario maker is breaking the law if it doesn’t pass on its U.S. tariff refunds to consumers. Those consumers “received exactly what they bargained and paid for” when buying price-hiked Nintendo goods last year, the company said in a filing on Monday in the case of Hoffert et al v. Nintendo. “Plaintiffs are not entitled to a rebate simply because of intervening legal developments related to tariffs.” Nintendo increased the price of Switch 2 controllers and the original Switch last year, following the imposition of globe-spanning U.S. tariffs (tariffs described by Nintendo’s lawyers on Monday as “sweeping” and “constantly changing”). This past February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs were illegal. A month later, Nintendo sued the U.S. government to get a refund. And in April, gamers filed the class action claim against Nintendo in Washington, saying it would be illegally double-dipping if it made money from tariff-hiked sales and then from a refund. The gamers sought relief for anyone in the U.S. who bought price-hiked Nintendo items between February 2025 and February 2026. “The common thread among Plaintiffs’ claims is that it is somehow ‘unfair; that Nintendo has not retroactively adjusted its prices for completed sales in response to the outcome of the tariff litigation,” the company’s lawyers wrote in today’s motion to dismiss. “But that is now how commercial transactions work.
Jaguars LB Ventrell Miller Named as Breakout Candidate
After overcoming a career-threatening injury, the hard-hitting linebacker is poised to anchor Jacksonville’s defense, stepping into a starting role fueled by elite run-stopping grades and surging coverage potential.
Steven McBee Jr. Breaks the Fourth Wall Over Business Dispute: “Get This F—king Mic Off Me”
Learn why Steven McBee Jr. erupted over a business dispute with Kacie Adkison on The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys.
First measles case in more than 10 years confirmed in Delaware, health officials say
Fourth person dies in Upper East Side Legionnaires’ outbreak
As of Monday, there had been 76 reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease associated with the outbreak.
McLeod Health Clarendon Hosts Anniversary Celebration Breakfast
McLeod Health Clarendon employees gathered Tuesday, July 14, for a celebration breakfast recognizing 75 years rooted in the community, 10 years as McLeod
Alabama health officials report 28 cases of Cyclospora amid national outbreak
The Alabama Department of Public Health has reported 28 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis in the state as of July 20, as part of an ongoing national outbreak.
FDA is still focused on lettuce supplier as source of parasite, despite faulty test result
Federal health officials said Monday they remain focused on lettuce from Taylor Farms as the source of a multistate outbreak of a diarrhea-causing parasite, despite inaccurate test results that the government briefly publicized over the weekend.
House Momentum, Senate Headwinds, and the Return of Shutdown Politics
With the House finally beginning to break its floor paralysis, appropriations may be back in motion. However, the path to funding the government for FY27, and keeping the lights on past September 30, remains complex. Last week, the House passed the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs (NSRP) appropriations bill, which included a closely watched vote on Rep. Thomas Massie's amendment targeting aid to Israel.
Taylor Farms political donations questioned amid cyclosporiasis outbreak
(FOX40.COM) — Past political donations from Taylor Farms are raising eyebrows as the California-based produce supplier is tied to an ongoing parasitic outbreak. Over the weekend, the U.S. Food and …
FDA says it’s still investigating Taylor Farms in cyclosporiasis outbreak
A false-positive test result doesn’t change the “overwhelming epidemiological data” linking Taylor Farms to the outbreak, the FDA said.
Former Illinois public health chief Nirav Shah drops Maine Senate bid
Before moving to Maine, Shah presided over a series of fatal Legionnaires disease outbreaks at the state of Illinois’ veterans’ home in Quincy that were linked to 14 resident deaths and the sickening of dozens of other staff and residents at the former facility.
Cyclospora outbreak has me worried about public health cuts
As the cyclospora outbreak wreaks havoc across the country, federal funding cuts have weakened the public health system, columnist Naomi Ishisaka writes.
Southern Nevada health officials report first local cyclosporiasis case linked to outbreak
Las Vegas health officials report cyclosporiasis case in Clark County tied to travel; no evidence of local exposure as CDC investigates outbreak.
After Breakout World Cup, Zlatan Leaves Fox With Leverage
The former striker said his Fox Sports stint was one-and-done.
Pokémon TCG: Pitch Black ETBs and Booster Bundles Are Back in Stock at Amazon — Snap These Up ASAP For Fast Easy Delivery
Amazon has finally restocked the Pokémon TCG: Pitch Black Elite Trainer Box and booster sets. Get the breakdown on pricing, set list details, and chase cards here.
Sankey: SEC breakaway talk over college bill 'honest conversations'
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said he continues to have conversations with Congressional leaders about the Protect College Sports Act but stopped short of saying whether all their suggested changes need to be implemented for the conference to support it.
Michigan cyclosporiasis outbreak tops 6,100 cases, health officials say
Commissioner Greg Sankey insists SEC breakaway threat is real as rules frustrations linger
Greg Sankey opened SEC football media days by talking about the Protect College Sports Act, NCAA frustrations, Playoff expansion and more.
5 breakout candidates for the Patriots in 2026
Here are five breakout candidates to keep an eye on when the Patriots start training camp later this week.
FDA retracts test result but still links Taylor Farms lettuce to cyclosporiasis
The FDA did not back away from its conclusion that the company remains linked to a multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis through its investigation.
Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process
[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
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