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Webinar rewind: Election administration in a pandemic

More than 100 democracy reformers and state and local policy makers tuned in Monday for a wide-ranging discussion about preparations for conducting this year's election during a pandemic — and what role various electoral reforms might have in boosting turnout.

The hour-long webinar was hosted by the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers in partnership with the Unite America Institute. Click the image above to watch.


Participants in the panel discussion and Q&A session were CEO Amber McReynolds of the National Vote at Home Institute, FairVote President Rob Ritchie, Kansas Democratic Party Chairwoman Vicki Hiatt and Amelia Powers Gardner, the GOP chief elections official in Provo, Utah. Their discussion was moderated by The Fulcrum's editor-in-chief, David Hawkings.

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The Desert's Thirsty New Neighbor

A "for sale" sign in the area where the Austin, Texas-based group BorderPlex plans to build a $165 billion data center in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

Photo by Alberto Silva Fernandez/Puente News Collaborative & High Country News

The Desert's Thirsty New Neighbor

Sunland Park, New Mexico, is not a notably online community. Retirees have settled in mobile homes around the small border town, just over the state line from El Paso. Some don’t own computers — they make their way to the air-conditioned public library when they need to look something up.

Soon, though, the local economy could center around the internet: County officials have approved up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds to help developers build a sprawling data center campus just down the road.

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Handmade crafts that look like little ghosts hanging at a store front.

As America faces division and unrest, this reflection asks whether we can bridge our political extremes before the cauldron of conflict boils over.

Getty Images, Yuliia Pavaliuk

Demons, Saints, Shutdowns: Halloween’s Reflection of a Nation on Edge

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble.

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​Former Republican presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Former Republican presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listens during a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump at Desert Diamond Arena on August 23, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona.

Getty Images, Rebecca Noble

The Saturated Fat Fallacy: RFK Jr.’s Dietary Crusade Endangers Public Health

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent embrace of saturated fats as part of a national health strategy is consistent with much of Kennedy’s health policy, which is often short of clinical proven data and offers opinions to Americans that are potentially outright dangerous.

By promoting butter, red meat, and full-fat dairy without clear intake guidelines or scientific consensus, Kennedy is not just challenging dietary orthodoxy. He’s undermining the very institutions tasked with safeguarding public health.

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Who’s Hungry? When Accounting Rules Decide Who Eats
apples and bananas in brown cardboard box
Photo by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash

Who’s Hungry? When Accounting Rules Decide Who Eats

With the government shutdown still in place, a fight over the future of food assistance is unfolding in Washington, D.C.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, Congress approved sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, affecting about 42 million Americans per month.

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