Choose your location
Votebeat
Tax cuts, teacher pension increases at stake after misinformation-led challenge to 2023 election
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.This article has been updated throughout with news of the legislature’s action and other developments.Lawsuits based on false claims about voting equipment could delay millions of dollars in cost of living increases for retired teachers expected to arrive in January. The lawsuits also threaten to hold up state property tax cuts for homeowners — arguably Republicans’ signature policy achievement this year.Voters widely approved both policies this fall. Now Texas lawmakers are scrambling in hopes of preventing further delays.The...
Court ruling on undated ballots brings confusion as counties certify November election results
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Help us answer your questions about voting where you live by filling out our survey..In the wake of a long-awaited federal court ruling, Pennsylvania counties are making diverging decisions about whether to count undated and misdated mail ballots cast during the November election.The ruling was delivered as counties were in the middle of certifying voting results.Counties are turning to their lawyers, leading to an inconsistent approach in ballot counting that disenfranchises some voters based on where they live.In at least one county this week,...
Two Cochise County supervisors indicted for refusing to certify midterm election
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.This article has been updated throughout with reactions and additional details.Attorney General Kris Mayes on Wednesday announced that an Arizona grand jury has indicted Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd for conspiracy and interference with an election officer, both felonies.Crosby and Judd, the two Republicans on the three-member board of the southern Arizona county, both refused to certify, or canvass, the county’s election by the Nov. 28, 2022 deadline in state law, twice voting against the...
Pa. counties must accept undated, incorrectly dated mail ballots, federal court rules
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.A federal court has directed Pennsylvania counties to accept mail ballots that a voter has failed to date or misdated, a long-awaited decision that could affect thousands of ballots in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.The date a voter writes on the envelope they return a mail ballot in is “immaterial” to its eligibility, Judge Susan Baxter of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday. Under the materiality provision of the Civil Rights...
Arizona county again rejects proposal to hand-count ballots in 2024
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Mohave County supervisors for a second time Monday rejected a proposal to hand-count ballots cast in 2024 elections instead of using machines.After two hours of impassioned public comments and debate quoting everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Yogi Berra, the five supervisors again rejected the proposal in a 3-2 vote, with each supervisor sticking to the position they took in a previous vote in August.The vote of Supervisors Chairman Travis Lingenfelter, who voted no earlier this year, had seemed...
Turns out, the Supreme Court’s landmark voting rights decision wasn’t the last word
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.After the 2020 redistricting cycle, a set of local political maps stood out to voting rights advocates and the U.S. Department of Justice: Galveston County, Texas. Now, the lawsuit over those maps has taken an interesting twist, and it highlights the way long standing legal precedents are under challenge right now.First, the backstory: Galveston County used redistricting to break up the...
What’s missing in voting and election news? Help us decide what to cover in 2024.
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Votebeat is preparing to cover the 2024 election cycle, and we want to know what questions you may have about how voting and elections work where you live.Conversations and coverage around a presidential election can be loud and confusing. Votebeat’s goal is to be here to help voters navigate misinformation and misunderstandings about how our elections actually work.To help better serve voters and guide our journalism, we want to know what’s on your mind and what’s missing in news coverage of the voting process.Please fill out the form below to share your thoughts and questions. You can also reach out to community@votebeat.org anytime.
Mohave County supervisors to decide on hand-counting ballots in 2024
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Mohave County supervisors will vote Monday on whether to tally by hand all ballots cast in the county’s 2024 elections, including the November presidential election.The supervisors, all Republicans, had previously considered hand-counting ballots but voted 3-2 against the idea in August after the county’s elections director conducted a trial and found it would cost around $1.1 million. The county is facing an $18 million budget deficit, and county supervisors cited that as a reason for rejecting the hand-count...
Harris County election shows progress. But challenges remain ahead of 2024.
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.By all accounts, Harris County pulled off a smooth local election last week under its newly reconfigured election administration. But officials didn’t have time to revel in it before a judge took them to task for the serious mistakes that marred its election one year ago.Nonetheless, Harris County officials say they believe they’re now on a path to deliver a successful 2024 presidential election under a new election chief, County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, and are clear-eyed about the...
A Mississippi voting meltdown deserves more attention than it’s getting
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.The 2023 off-cycle election has concluded and it was, on balance, a smooth success. Turnout was high where it was expected to be, and low where it was expected to be, and by and large, administrators were prepared. There was a scattering of snafus and incidents, most of which were resolved without further issue.There was, as is often the case, a...
“Hectic from the get-go”: How a new polling place chief in Pennsylvania navigated his first election
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Jay Schneider had a rocky start to his first Election Day as the head of his polling place.At 6 a.m., he only had two workers to help him set up the voting site at the Caln Township municipal building in central Chester County, which he quickly realized wasn’t enough.“We just barely had enough time to get set up before the voters were there at 7 o’clock,” he said. “It took longer than we thought.”Then, a worker scheduled for...
Early closing times for some Maricopa County drop boxes frustrate last-minute voters
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Maricopa County voters who waited until the last minute Tuesday to drop off their ballot for all-mail local elections were surprised to find some drop-off locations closed when they arrived.Seven of the county’s ballot drop boxes closed before 7 p.m. on Election Day, when voting ended, out of 45 total drop boxes and ballot replacement locations. Maricopa County had generally advertised that drop boxes would be open until 7 p.m., causing confusion at the sites with earlier closures...
Two new Arizona laws would create regular checks on voter citizenship. Will a judge let them stand?
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.A federal judge will soon decide whether to allow two new Arizona laws to go into effect that would require officials to investigate the citizenship status of all voters who haven’t yet provided proof of citizenship, and to regularly check the voter rolls for noncitizens.An army of voting rights groups, backed by the U.S. government and D.C.-based Elias Law Group, have lined up to challenge the laws, arguing they could potentially lead to eligible voters having their registration...
Voting machines in Northampton County printed ballots with errors in two judicial races
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Northampton County said a programming error with its voting machines caused votes for two Pennsylvania Superior Court candidates to be improperly printed on voters’ paper ballots, though officials stressed the correct selections were recorded on the machines.The county’s pre-election testing should have caught the problem before the Nov. 7 election, but the testing was incomplete, a county spokeswoman said.Reports of problems voting in the judicial retention of Judge Jack Panella and Judge Victor P. Stabile began coming in...
Low turnout but smooth sailing for Michigan’s first foray into early voting
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.More than 4,600 Michigan voters cast ballots in the state’s first foray into in-person early voting, prompting the secretary of state to declare it a successful pilot ahead of statewide early voting next year.Nearly 40 cities and townships offered up to nine days of the new voting option allowing voters to feed their early ballots into polling place tabulators, just as they do on Election Day. Early voting is part of the expansive constitutional voting overhaul approved overwhelmingly...
In Virginia, yet another attempt at cleaning voter rolls goes badly wrong
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.You may have been following the news out of Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration recently acknowledged removing thousands of voters from the rolls who shouldn’t have been purged.There’s a major state election there next week that will determine control of the Legislature Although Youngkin, a Republican, says the affected 3,400 people have had their status restored, advocates say the damage...
A poll worker’s heart attack in Williamson County highlights tensions between officials and poll watchers
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.A poll worker in Williamson County had a heart attack Monday while working at an early voting site. County officials initially blamed the medical emergency on a tense interaction with a voter fraud activist and poll watcher, but on Thursday retracted the accusation after the activist threatened legal action.Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell Jr. had emailed Laura Pressley Monday, claiming her actions at the voting site were responsible for “single-handedly almost costing someone their life.” The email, which...
Working the polls cleared up Jay Schneider’s 2020 suspicions. Now he’s taking charge as a judge of elections.
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.In 2022, when the judge of elections at Jay Schneider’s township polling place asked him to help out, he didn’t see it as that big of a deal.Just check a few people in, give them their ballots, and if there’s any problem, call over the judge of elections — the official title for the lead polling place official — to deal with it.“As a poll worker, if you’re not the lead dog, you just take care of the...
Cochise County officials who refused to certify election now under investigation by Arizona attorney general
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is investigating two Cochise County supervisors who refused to certify the county’s midterm election results by the state-required deadline.Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, both Republicans, were served subpoenas last week by Mayes’ office explaining that they are under investigation and ordering them to appear before the state grand jury on Nov. 13, according to a Votebeat review of Judd’s subpoena and a Herald Review report of Crosby’s subpoena. Judd’s subpoena has not been...
Guilty pleas stack up in Georgia, but lies continue to reverberate
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.Good morning,After lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to charges in Fulton County, the headlines and opinion columnists said it was bad news for former President Donald Trump and an acknowledgement that the conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections were baseless.And Powell’s guilty plea is one of several. Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis also took deals recently and agreed to...
Votebeat
262+
Posts
2M+
Views
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to reporting the nuanced truth about elections and voting at a time of crisis in America. Our mission is to help people understand our system of democracy so they can participate in strengthening it. Our approach is to cover and explain the mechanics of voting — no political polls, candidate platforms, or Election Day results; instead we will focus on how elections are run, from early and mail-in voting to voter registration and election security. Because we believe that elections are fundamentally a local issue, our coverage is rooted in local communities. Votebeat’s stories are available at no cost to readers, as well as to all local and national news outlets.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.