State auditor

Massachusetts voters face nine ballot questions in the 2026 election, the most in over three decades, covering public records access, labor rights, election rules, taxation, land conservation, housing, marijuana, and guns.

Question 1 would extend public records law to the governor's office and Legislature, championed by state Auditor Diana DiZoglio over objections that it is too broad. Question 2 would let Committee for Public Counsel Services employees unionize. Question 3 would replace party primaries with a single open primary advancing the top two finishers, backed by advocates seeking more competitive races but opposed by the state Democratic Party. Question 4 would allow same-day voter registration. Question 5 would cap state revenue growth and require rebates above that limit. Question 6 would dedicate certain taxes to a conservation fund. Question 7 would permit single-family homes on smaller lots statewide to boost affordable housing, despite local-control concerns. Question 8 would repeal legal recreational marijuana. Question 9 asks whether to keep or repeal the state's 2024 gun reform law, with both sides framing it as a matter of safety or constitutional rights.

Republican Keith Faber and Democrat John Kulewicz, the two candidates for Ohio attorney general in 2026, agree corruption is a priority but disagree sharply on strategy. Faber, Ohio's current state auditor, wants to create a permanent anti-corruption task force within the AG's office, pairing dedicated attorneys with investigators and forensic accountants to pursue fraud in areas like Medicaid and childcare programs and to streamline cases such as the Columbus Zoo spending scandal. He says current efforts have been "haphazard" and would build on the 170 convictions his auditor's office has helped secure since 2019.

Kulewicz argues Ohio already has adequate legal tools and structures, and that the real problem is weak enforcement, not organization. He criticized Faber for not committing to continue the prosecution of former FirstEnergy executives tied to the Sam Randazzo bribery case, and questioned why Faber didn't push for a task force earlier in his tenure as auditor. The debate follows years of high-profile scandals, including the House Bill 6 bribery case, though the issue has had limited political traction for Democrats.

An AI-manipulated image showing Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand wearing a large mask and face shield has circulated widely on social media since at least July, amplified in a September 1 Facebook post by Republican nominee Zach Lahn. Lahn shared the image alongside clips from a podcast appearance in which he criticized Sand, Iowa's state auditor, as an "East Coast elitist."

Fact-checkers traced the photo to an unaltered original published by the Iowa Capital Dispatch in July, showing Sand without any mask or face shield while meeting cancer-advocacy group representatives in Des Moines. OpenAI's image-verification tool detected a SynthID watermark in the altered version, confirming AI manipulation. Sand's campaign called the image fake.

Lahn, who has aligned with vaccine-skeptic rhetoric and attacked Sand over past pandemic-era mask support, is locked in a tight race to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Kim Reynolds in the reliably red state.

A ballot measure heading to Arizona voters in November would require larger school districts to spend 60% of their budgets on "direct instructional expenses," a change supporters say would boost teacher pay. Proposition 320 would apply to districts with more than 7,500 students or those located in counties with over half a million residents, covering all districts in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties. Districts falling short of the threshold would need to raise spending by 0.5% annually or risk losing funds from the Arizona Classroom Site Fund.

Supporters, including the Goldwater Institute, argue the measure directs more resources into classrooms, noting that instructional spending has dropped from about 57% in 2001 to roughly 52% today. Critics, including the Arizona School Boards Association, call the measure a vague, one-size-fits-all mandate that could force cuts to transportation, food service, or special-needs support, since the state auditor general—not the proposition itself—would define what counts as direct instructional spending. School safety advocates also worry key intervention programs could be at risk.

Cleveland Heights has filed its delinquent 2024 financial audit with the Ohio state auditor's office, leaving just the 2025 audit outstanding as the city works to resolve fiscal reporting failures from the prior administration. Late filings for 2023 and 2024 led Moody's Investors Service to pull the city's "A1" credit rating about 18 months ago, placing it in a "no rating" category that limits its ability to borrow or issue bonds.

Under Mayor Jim Petras and new Finance Director Joe Brodzinski, city controller Tiffinae Ware told council the 2025 financials should be closed out within weeks. Council President Tony Cuda has asked for further discussion of the 2025 audit and the city's bond rating at an upcoming finance committee meeting ahead of 2027 budget hearings. Auditors also flagged a lapsed capital assets inventory as a "material weakness" that could lead to a state non-compliance finding. Separately, the city's Cedar-Fairmount parking garage will close for about a month starting Labor Day week for resurfacing work.