To mark National Voter Education Week, The Fulcrum is kicking off a series of articles to help people navigate the shifting laws that govern elections.
With the midterm primary season concluded, all eyes have shifted to the upcoming general election. While Nov. 8 is Election Day, in reality voting begins earlier in many states and there’s some work to be done in order to make sure your ballot counts. That’s because every state has been tweaking its election laws over the past few years, with some making it easier to vote and others putting new restrictions in place.
To help you navigate the new rules, The Fulcrum has compiled an overview of typical steps to take as voters get ready for Election Day. Rules and regulations may vary from state to state, and we will get into those details in future articles.
This may seem obvious, but the first step in getting prepped to vote would be registering to vote (or double-checking your registration status). Although National Voters Registration Day was Sept. 20, individuals can still register online and in person, depending on where they live. After registering, it's best to check the status of your registration.
When checking their registration status, voters can also review where they are registered, check their party preference, and determine the status of their vote-by-mail or provisional ballot. This becomes a useful tool with long gaps between election dates and people experiencing lifecycle events.
The next step would be to figure out where and how you will be voting – whether at a polling place on Election Day, through in-person early voting, or by submitting an absentee ballot (depending on your state’s rules). Picking a voting method early takes some of the stress off of the process.
Most states will allow in-person early voting during a designated period, but, again, it varies from state to state. Additionally, some states may require voters to submit an absentee ballot to be eligible for early voting. This information is easily accessible on the state or local office website.
Like early voting, absentee voting (or voting by mail) provides more flexibility to those who are unable to physically vote at their local polling place. This demographic includes college students studying out of their home states, those dealing with injury, illness or disabilities, military personnel deployed out of state, or individuals who are traveling or on a business trip. States set strict deadlines for absentee voting, both to request and to return a ballot.
Remember that in many jurisdictions, it’s not just candidates on the ballot. Voters need to study up on both the people seeking office and the state and local initiatives that can impact government spending, services and even democracy itself. Mis- and disinformation run rampant in election season, so be sure to check your sources.
Future articles will go into great detail on these and other steps in the voting process.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.