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.

A Double Blow to Abortion Rights in Idaho: Prop 1 Fails at the Ballot Box, and a Federal Court Sides With the State

PUBLISHED 11/6/2026 by

The elation that so many of us have been feeling in the wake of the mid-terms has been tamped down in Idaho as the result of two powerful and closely related reminders that the unremitting attacks on abortion rights are not going to let up any time soon. 

First, on Oct. 30, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an interim decision in the case of Seyb v. Idaho Board of Medical Examiners privileging Idaho’s “profound interest” in protecting fetal life over a pregnant woman’s right to self-preservation when faced with a health-threatening condition or the risk of death due to self-harm. And then on Nov. 3,  in sharp contrast to the outcomes in the other three states where abortion was on the ballot, Idahoans rejected Proposition 1, which would have legalized abortion until viability (with an extremely narrow emergency exception), which leaves one of the nation’s strictest criminal abortion bans in place.

The Affordability Crisis Is Also a Caregiving Crisis. Just Ask America’s Women.

PUBLISHED 10/31/2026 by

As Americans head to the polls, affordability is top of mind for most U.S. voters: Ninety percent of them say the cost of living is a “very” or “extremely” important issue for candidates to discuss

But when it comes to the “affordability” conversation, one major financial burden often gets overlooked: the cost of caring for a child, an aging parent or yourself in a country without a national paid family and medical leave program. 

Paid Leave for All—the national campaign of dozens of organizations fighting for federal paid family leave—has used the last few weeks before Nov. 3 to travel to battleground states and connect with local communities about the affordability crisis and the need for paid leave policies.

None of the states on the Paid Leave for All bus tour have statewide paid leave policies. (Only 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have paid leave programs in place, leaving paid leave policies up to individual employers in the other 36 states.) 

However, all three—Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio—have bills that could improve state paid leave if they move through the legislature in the coming months. And this largely depends on which candidates people vote into office next week.

“However people vote or whatever you identify politically, what happens next week is going to determine what we’re able to do federally,” Dawn Huckelbridge, founding director of Paid Leave for All, told Ms.

Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota and Beyond: The Races and Ballot Measures Women’s Rights and Democracy Advocates Are Watching

PUBLISHED 10/29/2026 by and

In the midterm elections, women are poised to celebrate historic firsts, especially when it comes to governor races.

We sit on the precipice of potentially electing the first woman governors in Tennessee, Ohio and Minnesota. If Keisha Lance Bottoms wins her race in Georgia, she would be the first Black woman governor in our nation’s 250 years. In New Mexico, Deb Haaland is poised to become the first Native American woman to serve as a state’s governor.

‘Where Are We?’: Days Before the Midterms, a Question None of Us Can Afford to Ignore

PUBLISHED 10/28/2026 by

The rights many of us assumed were settled are being rolled back. Institutions we assumed were permanent are being tested. A democracy is only as strong as the people who show up for it. This year showing up has never mattered more.

There are many nonpartisan principles and values foundational to voting for a more just future … and one of them is the principle of equal rights for all.

The Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed in 1923 and passed Congress in 1972. When Virginia ratified it in 2020, decades after Congress’ deadline, it became the 38th state to do so. Yet it has still not been certified and its legal status remains unresolved.

Most people don’t realize the Constitution still does not explicitly guarantee equal rights regardless of sex. We do have important protections against sex discrimination. Title IX opened classrooms and playing fields to generations of girls. The Equal Pay Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act made it illegal to pay women less for the same work or push them out of their jobs for being pregnant. But these are laws, not constitutional rights. What one Congress passes, another can weaken or repeal. Their strength depends on whoever holds the majority.

The Equal Rights Amendment would change that. It would place equality between women and men in the Constitution itself, pushing courts to treat sex discrimination with the same seriousness as other fundamental violations of our rights. Our progress would be far harder to roll back. Rights that can be repealed are not yet secure. When the rights of half the population can be rolled back, no one’s rights are secure.

Artist and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain’s latest work—Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring, a 65-inch sculpture of reclaimed cedar with 50,000 years of history hand-burned into its rings—traces the long fight for women’s equality and reminds us that the next chapter of feminist history is ours to write. (The tree ring is on display in downtown Austin, Texas, until Nov. 17; then it heads to New Mexico.)

Before You Vote, Know Where Your Candidates Stand on Abortion (and the Economy and Healthcare and Education and Immigration and…)

PUBLISHED 10/12/2026 by and

A candidate for the U.S. House in Florida and the hosts of an antiabortion podcast recently debated whether abortion bans should include exceptions for rape and incest. The candidate said he hoped people in those circumstances would choose “to have the baby” and allow God to take a crime and make “something incredible” out of it.

Voters have the right to know their candidates’ beliefs on abortion and reproductive healthcare access. Would they protect access to abortion when a pregnancy threatens a patient’s life? What about a pregnancy resulting from rape? Would they support federal restrictions or protect access to care?

Guides.vote produces nonpartisan voter guides with the help of experienced editors, researchers and veteran journalists. The guides provide information about candidates’ positions on issues and are designed to help voters compare candidates before casting their ballots. They also link to sources, so readers can learn more about the statements and records behind the comparisons.

After Her Near-Fatal Pregnancy Crisis, Amanda Zurawski Is Finally a Mom

PUBLISHED 10/1/2026 by

In 2022, Amanda Zurawski became a national figure after she nearly died from pregnancy complications in Texas. Zurawski had conceived that pregnancy through intrauterine insemination (IUI), but when her water broke at 18 weeks, doctors delayed abortion care until she developed life-threatening sepsis. The infection left severe scarring in her reproductive organs, leading her and her husband, Josh, to pursue IVF and a surrogate, who gave birth to their son, August, on Sept. 13.

“August Mikel James Zurawski was born on Sep. 13, and he is happy and healthy. We are the happiest. … For the present, we hope to stay in Texas and fight. But now we have someone else to think about.”

Who Cares if Political Candidates Associate With Sex Offenders?

PUBLISHED 9/30/2026 by

Republican candidates in two pivotal North Carolina races are being taken to task for their public association with convicted sex offenders who served time for taking indecent liberties with children.

Former North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley—the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate—and GOP Supreme Court candidate Sarah Stevens have been called to account in the leadup to the midterm elections for accepting support from one or more individuals either formerly or currently on the state sex offender registry. That support includes campaign work, financial contributions and even public prayers.

North Carolina state Rep. Sarah Stevens (R), who resigned from the state House of Representatives in June to run for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, attended and accepted a donation from a fundraising picnic last year at the home of convicted sex offender Harvey West. Though Stevens said she “didn’t even know” West, she had appeared on his wife Kim West’s podcast to promote the picnic and was Facebook friends with Harvey West, a former police officer who served six years in prison after being convicted of five counts of indecent liberties with a child in 2000.

This month it was also reported that Pastor Daimon L. King, a registered sex offender “twice sentenced to prison for convictions involving children,” according to ABC, who led the opening prayer at a recent campaign stop for Whatley. King, who leads the Christian church New Beginnings Celebration, declared his church members “fully support and are behind” Whatley’s U.S. Senate candidacy.

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.