Elections

Free and fair elections are an essential pillar of democracy around the world. However, the validity of elections are often threatened by the state or individuals introducing barriers to voting, including violence, and political or financial corruption.

We Fought Too Hard for This Vote. Here’s How We Protect It.

PUBLISHED 9/25/2026 by

The ability to participate in free and fair elections is arguably the most essential American right. Yet on Jan. 6, 2021, the nation watched as a mob overran the Capitol. In an act designed to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next, they attacked law enforcement officers who were there to protect the building and members of Congress inside. Rioters desecrated the Capitol. Our vote and our democracy seemed fragile that day and in the days that followed.

Now, President Donald Trump is trying to create a role for the president in running and overseeing elections. That’s not how the Constitution works.

The effort to interfere with the November midterms isn’t going to consist of a single, dramatic event on Election Day. It is what we are already seeing: a combination of efforts by Trump and his supporters to make it more difficult to vote, to create confusion about who is eligible to vote, to pressure state and local officials, and to manufacture uncertainty. As Jan. 6 proved, distrust among the American people makes it easier for an administration to contest election results they don’t like. And the Trump administration is doing all of this with an eye toward shifting as much control over elections as possible from the states to the federal government.

We can already see where pressure is being applied to voters and election officials, and we can identify the kinds of problems that are likely to arise.

You don’t need to be a constitutional law scholar to make a difference. It just takes a desire to be useful, to engage in democracy and become a participant, not a bystander. Know your state’s rules and deadlines for registering. Research whether you can vote early or by mail. Help the people around you, who may be less informed, do the same. Volunteer as a poll worker if you can. Volunteer to do election protection work if you are a lawyer, law student, retired lawyer or simply someone willing to be trained.

Trump and DOJ’s Epstein Cover-Up Is Front of Mind for Voters Going into Midterms

PUBLISHED 9/10/2026 by

With just two months until the midterm elections, voters across party lines are looking for candidates who are willing to take on corruption, hold powerful abusers accountable and demand the full release of the Epstein files.

A new nationwide poll conducted by public opinion research firm GBAO and released Wednesday by COURIER and Reckoning Action found that 88 percent of Americans who plan to vote in the midterms, including 83 percent of Republican voters, will prioritize candidates who promise to hold powerful people accountable, including through the release of the full Epstein files. Justice for Epstein’s victims ranked higher for voters than almost every other issue, including healthcare, affordability, immigration, public safety and the Iran War.

Releasing the Epstein files became a national priority in 2025, as the Trump administration became engrossed in an apparent cover-up of the records, what they contained, and who they might implicate. The most grievous transgressions include secret meetings in the Situation Room; moving Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell to a low-security prison; holding a fake Epstein files release party with far-right media personalities; and closing its investigation into Epstein without additional prosecutions after a hasty review of less than 7 percent of the DOJ’s investigative files.

In lieu of executive accountability, the public turned to Congress. Pressure from voters grew so intense that the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) passed with virtually unanimous support.

But the new polling suggests that voters may now turn to the ballot box to punish those they believe have failed to ensure the law is upheld. To date, only half of the 6 million records from the government’s case files on Epstein have been released, and the U.S. Department of Justice has failed to provide Congress with explanations for redactions and omissions as required by law.

The full release of the Epstein files will take a Congress willing to use its power to force the DOJ to comply with the law, as Attorney General Todd Blanche has stonewalled any attempts to do so. Senate Republicans approved Blanche’s nomination to his role in August, despite pleas from survivors of Epstein’s abuse to reject him. Blanche took lead on the Epstein investigation in 2025, members of Congress currently investigating his handling of the case say his priority has been to protect the president every step of the way.

(Editor’s note: The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room—a traveling exhibit that organizes the 3.5 million pages of DOJ’s released Epstein files into 3,437 bound books—is on tour. Five cities will host the full Reading Room; the smaller Bookmobile will visit 20+ more along the way; read on for the full schedule.)

Want to Protect the Vote? Become a Poll Worker

PUBLISHED 8/13/2026 by

For months now, hundreds of active and caring friends and supporters have been writing and calling us with a version of the same question: In addition to sending money, what else can I actually do?

Here’s one suggestion—and it may be the most useful thing you can do between now and Tuesday, Nov. 3: Show up as a poll worker, and get your friends to show up too.

We’ll keep calling out this war on women. But calling it out is not the same as helping to end it. The voter standing in a four-hour line in a shuttered-precinct district does not need our concern. She needs someone at the check-in table who showed up.

Let that someone be you—and your friends.

How Can We Get More Young People to Vote? Start Registering Them in High School

PUBLISHED 8/9/2026 by

This year, about 4 million Americans will turn 18, just in time to vote in November’s midterms. However, fewer than 30 percent of newly eligible young voters are currently registered to vote—half the number of students who go to college—and that percentage is only going down. In 2024, by comparison, 44 percent of U.S. 18-year-olds were registered, compared to approximately 75 percent over voters aged 45 and up.

For midterm elections in particular, not much more than a quarter of eligible 18-year-olds vote—meaning about 2 million young people are missing the chance to let their voices be heard.

A common refrain from some is that the younger half of Gen Z isn’t interested in voting or politics, but the data doesn’t back this up. According to research from The Civics Center, among 18-year-olds who are registered, voter turnout is high. More than 75 percent of registered young voters 18 through 24 have turned out to vote in every presidential election going back to 2004—suggesting the issue isn’t with young voters themselves but how they’re (not) being registered.

“Young people are told so frequently, ‘Your vote doesn’t matter, what you say doesn’t matter,’” Laura Brill, The Civics Center’s founder and CEO, told Ms. “And these things have a negative impact, because actually young people probably do know that they matter, and we don’t want to have a future where people are just feeling cynical and as if they’re intentionally being left out of the process.”

A Jim Crow-Era Voter Suppression Tool Is Back: Mass Voter Challenges

PUBLISHED 7/27/2026 by

In March 2025, two members of the DOGE team communicated with a political advocacy group that was seeking to “find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States.” The group was trying to match Social Security records with copies of voter files that it had acquired. One of the DOGE team members even signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with the group. While it’s still unclear whether DOGE members shared any personal Social Security data, the revelation raised a scary prospect: The federal government might collaborate with election deniers seeking to block American voters from the ballot box.

Most states have laws that allow voters to challenge other voters’ eligibility. Baseless mass challenges to hundreds or thousands of voters at a time are a growing problem. They threaten voters. They swamp overburdened election officials with unnecessary work. And they fuel mistrust in our elections.

Even in Summertime, We Can’t Lose Focus: State-Level Democracy Dispatches From Maine, Kansas, Idaho and Virginia

PUBLISHED 7/20/2026 by

Summertime—and the fight for democracy—is sizzling, especially in the states. Here’s what is happening across the country.

Sudden shakeups in U.S. Senate elections have foisted reproductive rights front and center. The upcoming primary in Maine to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic candidate, combined with deep antipathy voters there have toward Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, is a golden opportunity to elevate abortion in the midterms—especially given Collins’ recent comment that she has no regrets about her pivotal vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

In South Carolina, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death last weekend has created a surge of public attention and momentum for the Democratic candidate, Dr. Annie Andrews, a pro-choice, pro-science pediatrician (with an A+ Instagram game).

Too often, summer is a season all too ripe for sneak attacks on direct democracy. Ohio Republicans made a case study out of the strategy when they orchestrated a special election in August 2023 to quietly raise the threshold for ballot measures—all in service of attempting to thwart a popular abortion proposal. In the end, voters saw the power grab for what it was and rejected the rules change while turning out in force that November for abortion.

Now Kansas is resurrecting the play and will hold an August election to decide how state Supreme Court justices are chosen.

In Maine, a measure was also proposed, but Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (one of the potential U.S. Senate candidates) invalidated more than 12,000 signatures on the citizens’ petition that had been forged and/or duplicated. Last week a judge upheld blocking the referendum; any appeal will need to be resolved by Aug. 25 for it to appear on the November ballot.

It is a tough balancing act—the need to revel in the lazy, hazy days of summer and grasp the reality that these fights require our constant vigilance. This is where we have to hold each other up. Please take the time to refresh and rejuvenate, and be ready to come back swinging.

Trump’s Executive Order to Restrict Vote by Mail Is a Five-Alarm Fire

PUBLISHED 6/23/2026 by

Republican voters regularly use mail-in voting. Nearly one in five registered Republicans vote by mail. One in four Democrats does too.

Data on who votes by mail suggests that many Americans trust and rely on it.

Trump himself uses mail voting. He has defended casting his own ballots by mail, saying he did it “because I’m president” and “I had a lot of different things” to do.

Trump has repeatedly tried to restrict Americans’ ability to vote by mail. His latest effort, following several failed attempts, began with an executive order he signed on March 31: “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” The order seeks to shift authority over federal elections from the states—which the Constitution grants primary responsibility for administering elections—to the federal government.

There are, of course, lawsuits challenging this executive order. The challenges to this executive order may well determine how and when you vote this November. So I asked my Brennan Center colleague Wendy Weiser, one of the lawyers in the League of Women Voters case, to share her perspective.

Buckle Up, the Primaries Are Coming: From New Mexico to California, Women’s Representation Is on the Ballot

PUBLISHED 5/29/2026 by

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!

This week:

—June primary contests will take place in 18 states.
—Concerning trends are taking place for women’s representation in New Jersey.
—The American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall is at risk.
—All 15 men in Donald Trump’s original Cabinet remain, but four of its seven original women are now left.

… and more.

Black Women Political Candidates Are Expected to Be ‘Likable,’ Qualified and Tireless. Men Aren’t.

PUBLISHED 5/28/2026 by

What I experienced during my 2014 run for office wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to me.

The year before, I had run for president of the Young Democrats of America (YDA), a national political party office role, against a popular opponent. The opponent was a Black man, so race wasn’t a factor in the election; however, gender was.

Before my campaign, I was vice president of YDA and had heard only good things about my service: my fundraising efforts, the partnerships I had engineered with progressive organizations, and programming coordination for the membership. However, when I decided to run for president, I instantly became ‘difficult to work with’ and ‘mean.’

Research on women candidates confirms that voters are less likely to vote for a woman if they don’t like her; by comparison, voters don’t need to like men to elect them. But when I was running as the Black woman candidate in a seven-candidate primary for public office, with two other women in the race, I noticed almost nothing about my being ‘difficult’ and more about my ability and work ethic.

My experience running for public office reflected the systemic bias and double standards not just for women candidates, but Black women candidates who dare to aspire to any sort of political leadership—and that needed to change.

We need more progressive Black women in public office for a myriad reasons, but we also specifically need the younger generation of Instigators in office, candidates who understand the times in which we live currently.

Electing more Black women will take real investment in changing the biases and attitudes (conscious and unconscious) of mostly white donors, media, campaign staff, consultants and institutional leaders to help shift the culture and systems. But this support needs to be substantively increased so that we can rebuild an inclusive, multiracial democracy with the leaders we want and need.

(Excerpted from The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy by Atima Omara.)

Election Conspiracies Are Moving From Rhetoric to Government Action

PUBLISHED 5/27/2026 by

Attacks on the legitimacy of U.S. elections are no longer confined to conspiracy theories circulating online—they are increasingly shaping government action at the local level.

In Riverside County, Calif., Sheriff Chad Bianco seized roughly 650,000 ballots from a 2025 special election based on fraud allegations that election officials say stem from misleading interpretations of preliminary voting data. Courts have since intervened, with the California Supreme Court ordering the investigation paused while litigation continues.

I spoke with Jill Garvey, co-director of States at the Core, about what these escalating “election integrity” efforts mean for democracy and public trust.

Garvey says many of the activists driving these claims understand election systems far better than they let on—and are intentionally using confusion around technical election data to sow distrust in the voting process.

Even when election officials fully explain the data and publicly refute the allegations, she said, demands for investigations continue, helping fuel a broader narrative that elections cannot be trusted.

Garvey sees these efforts as part of a larger strategy testing how far local officials can go in challenging election systems and democratic norms.

But she also points to growing community-level organizing and civic engagement in response. The groups advancing these claims, she noted, are relatively small compared to the hundreds of thousands of voters affected by their actions—a reminder that local communities still have significant power to push back against efforts to undermine confidence in elections.