Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Governor wants Florida to boost security spending ahead of the election

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' request for $6.6 million in election security spending is expected to get a positive response from the Legislature.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Gov. Ron DeSantis asked his fellow Republicans at the Florida statehouse on Wednesday to spend $6.6 million for election oversight and improved ballot security ahead of the next election.

The request was part of a comprehensive state budget submission delivered to the Legislature. It is significant because the reliability of Florida's elections will be particularly important next year. The state's 29 electoral votes are the third biggest prize in the presidential race and have been closely contested in every recent election — with a problematic history along the way.


Amid a raft of controversies centered on confusing, antiquated and otherwise unreliable balloting procedures in 2000, the presidency was decided for George W. Bush by an official margin of only 537 votes out of almost 6 million cast. In 2016, Donald Trump carried the state by just 1.2 percentage points.

Florida was identified as the target of election hacking in 2016 in the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. In a follow-up meeting with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, DeSantis was told that voter registration systems in two counties were breached. No votes were affected by the hacking, authorities said.

The DeSantis budget for 2020-21 is likely to be received warmly in Tallahassee, where Republicans have solid control of the state House and Senate. It includes $1.4 million to hire 10 cybersecurity experts to provide help to local election officials. Other proposals include:

  • $1 million for cybersecurity initiatives.
  • $1.4 million for voter registration list maintenance.
  • $1.5 million to reimburse counties for the cost of special elections.
  • $1.3 million for advertising constitutional amendments.
  • $100,000 for a small grant program for election-related actions.

Read More

The Sanctuary City Debate: Understanding Federal-Local Divide in Immigration Enforcement
Police car lights.
Getty Images / Oliver Helbig

The Sanctuary City Debate: Understanding Federal-Local Divide in Immigration Enforcement

Immigration is governed by a patchwork of federal laws. Within the patchwork, one notable thread of law lies in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The Act authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) programs, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work in tandem with local agencies and law enforcement on deterrence and enforcement efforts. Like the now-discontinued Secure Communities program that encouraged information sharing between local police agencies and ICE, the law specifically authorizes ICE to work with local and federal partners to detain and deport removal-eligible immigrants from the country.

What are Sanctuary Policies?

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump Slams Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians Over Name Changes

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump Slams Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians Over Name Changes

Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump has reignited controversy surrounding the Washington Commanders football team, demanding the franchise revert to its former name, the “Redskins,” a term widely condemned as a racial slur against Native Americans.

In a series of posts on Truth Social this past weekend, Trump declared, “The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team.” He went further, threatening to block the team’s $3.7 billion stadium deal in Washington, D.C., unless the name change is reversed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Media criticism
News media's vital to democracy, Americans say; then a partisan divide yawns
Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images

Public Media Under Fire: Why Project 2025 Is Reshaping NPR and PBS

This past spring and summer, The Fulcrum published a 30-part, nonpartisan series examining Project 2025—a sweeping policy blueprint for a potential second Trump administration. Our analysis explored the proposed reforms and their far-reaching implications across government. Now, as the 2025 administration begins to take shape, it’s time to move from speculation to reality.

In this follow-up, we turn our focus to one of the most consequential—and quietly unfolding—chapters of that blueprint: Funding cuts from NPR and PBS.

Keep ReadingShow less
Person voting

New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Hill Street Studios/Getty Images

New York City’s Ranked Choice Voting: Democracy That’s Accountable to Voters

New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Heads turned when 33-year-old state legislator Zohran Mamdani knocked off Andrew Cuomo, a former governor from one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent families. The earliest polls for the mayoral primary this winter found Mamdani struggling to reach even 1 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less