Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Young female soldier in camouflage uniform strides along a gravel road carrying a heavy duffel bag, focused and determined on mission

When Sexual Assault Becomes An Occupational Hazard

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)

Texas Republicans’ Effort To Make a Safe House Seat May Backfire

aerial view of an AI data center.

Why Communities Nationwide Are Halting AI Data Centers

US Supreme Court

If You Can’t Win, Disrupt

United States Capitol building

Do Six Political Factions Cause Congressional Gridlock?

Our Elections 'region' last dance features 2 princesses

Our Elections 'region' last dance features 2 princesses
vasosh/Getty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumApr 29, 2020
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

Not one but two Cinderella teams have made it to the championship round of the Elections bracket in our reader-driven Democracy Madness contest.

Our No. 9 seed, the proposal to have fewer House seats but with several members elected from each congressional district, is taking on an even bigger underdog— No. 11, getting states to award their electoral votes to the national (not their own) winner of the presidential popular vote.

But which will be the belle of the ball?

Multimember districts had its biggest win of the tournament, over instituting term limits for Supreme Court justices. Meanwhile, the National Popular Vote Compact snuck past the No. 2 seed, creating independent commissions to draw legislative districts — the biggest upset of the tournament.

The finals last through Thursday, so press the Vote Now button to take your pick. (For more on the proposals, click the matchup, then each label.)

Sixteen proposals for reforming money in politics will get contested starting Monday. By the middle of May you will have chosen the single best of 64 ideas for fixing our democratic system.




Latest news

Ultrasound scanning
Health

Men4Choice Encourages Men to Fight for Reproductive Freedom

The Country That Vaccinated the World Is Unlearning How
Health

The Country That Vaccinated the World Is Unlearning How

Fire Pete Hegseth to help GOP in midterms
Ethics & Leadership

Fire Pete Hegseth to help GOP in midterms

Read More

Montanans Urged To Defend Voter Integrity in November Elections

The Trump administration’s Justice Department has filed 30 lawsuits against states refusing to hand over voter rolls, which include personal information including Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

Adobe Stock

Montanans Urged To Defend Voter Integrity in November Elections

Democracy watchdogs warned President Donald Trump is setting the stage to tap emergency powers to ensure Republicans do not lose control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

Since January, the Trump administration has used federal law enforcement to raid election facilities to seize ballots and voting machines in places like Georgia and Puerto Rico. Trump continues to cast doubt on the integrity of elections in Montana and across the nation.

Keep ReadingShow less
GOP Claims of Voter Disenfranchisement Are a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Repeated claims of voter fraud have eroded Republican trust in mail-in voting. Explore how GOP rhetoric surrounding mail ballots risks depressing conservative turnout ahead of the 2026 midterms.

ArtMarie/Getty Images

GOP Claims of Voter Disenfranchisement Are a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Trump’s efforts to sow seeds of doubt in the election process have had an unintended yet predictable effect on the 2026 midterms: many Republican voters no longer trust mail-in voting.

When City Councilmember Nithya Raman surged from behind in the Los Angeles mayoral primary as late mail-in ballots were counted, some members of the GOP pointed to a broken election system. In reality, they were watching California elections function exactly as designed — slow, scrupulous, but secure.

Keep ReadingShow less
Person voting in a voting booth.

Why are so many American elections uncontested? Richard Neal’s long tenure in Congress highlights a broader problem involving money, ballot access, parties and candidate recruitment.

Hill Street Studios/Getty Images

America Has an Uncontested Elections Problem

Richard Neal, the congressman representing Massachusetts’ 1st district, is concluding his 19th congressional term this year. In many ways, Neal is a typical long-tenured congressperson. However, Congressman Neal is distinguished by having been elected to Congress uncontested more times than anyone in post-civil rights American history.

Neal owes his long tenure in part to the uncompetitive elections in western Massachusetts where so-called “silent elections” are common. Some would be challengers may be put off by the fact that he has won seven of his eight contested congressional races by more than 20 points. More often than not, Neal has been uncontested in the Democratic primary as well, however, this year he has competition in both the primary and general election.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Democracy Cannot Run on an AI Model

Clerk Matthew Sandbar, 34, demonstrates part of the ballot-sorting process to members of the media attending a walkthrough of the Philadelphia Ballot Processing Center used to process the ballots of the 2022 US midterm elections, in Philadelphia on October 27, 2022.

Photo by Ryan Collerd / AFP via Getty Images

A Democracy Cannot Run on an AI Model

Tallying the results of Washington, DC’s first ranked-choice election in June took about 10 days—longer than many voters are used to. In an age when artificial intelligence can generate an answer in seconds, waiting days for election results can feel old-fashioned, inefficient, even suspicious. And it is about to matter far more widely. This November, 17 states, cities, and counties will use ranked-choice voting, including Maine and Alaska statewide, in races that could help decide control of Congress. More voters than ever will watch results take days to resolve, and more will be asked to trust a count they cannot see.

But that slowness may be one of its most democratic features.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026