The use of mail ballots exploded in 2020 as states looked for ways to accommodate voters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Friends Tom Cook and Joseph Feeney shook hands in 1992 and promised that if either one of them ever won the Powerball jackpot, they would split the money. That promise came to fruition last month when Cook bought the winning ticket for a $22 million jackpot at Synergy Coop in Menomonie. Cook retired after hitting the jackpot while Feeney was already retired. The men chose the cash option of about $16.7 million, leaving each with nearly $5.7 million after taxes are paid. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in about 292 million.