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Webinar rewind: How to make sure your vote counts

Webinar: How to make sure your vote counts

With legal fights over the election being waged across the country and disinformation clouding the truth about voting systems, Americans can be forgiven for their confusion about how to cast a ballot this fall. Because each state sets its own rules — for registering, getting and returning vote-by-mail ballots, timetables for balloting in person and so many other things — keeping it all straight can be difficult for both voting rights advocates and individual voters.


The Fulcrum hosted a live discussion in which we discussed the realities of voting during the coronavirus pandemic and resources that you can share with friends and family.

The discussion was moderated by The Fulcrum's editor-in-chief, David Hawkings, and featured:

    • David Levine, elections integrity fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy
    • Jack Noland, research manager, RepresentUs 
    • Eliza Sweren-Becker, Democracy Program counsel, Brennan Center for Justice

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    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?

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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