Why do local and state elections matter, and how can voters be sure that their voices are being represented in the lawmaking process? We open the third season of Democracy Decoded with an overview of democracy at the state and local level, and how we can ensure that all citizens can have their voices heard.
This episode is from the Democracy Decoded podcast as a part of The Democracy Group.
Take a listen.
The Supreme Court closed out its term and issued decisions that could affect millions of Americans. Among them is Watson v. Republican National Committee, in which the court decided in a 5-4 decision to uphold longstanding Mississippi law and allow mail-in ballots received post-Election Day to be counted.
The legal implications of the decision will be analyzed for months, if not years. But beyond the legal questions is a practical one: What role does mail voting actually play in helping Americans participate in elections?
Modern ballots routinely ask voters to weigh in on candidates for multiple offices, judicial races, school board contests, constitutional amendments, and local ballot measures. Yet election debates often treat voting as if it were a simple transaction: show up, cast a ballot, and leave.
In reality, democracy works best when voters have time to make informed choices. Voting is not supposed to be a closed-book test.
Consider a voter opening a ballot at home. Alongside candidates for president, governor, or Congress, there may be judicial elections, school board races, local offices, constitutional amendments, bond proposals, and ballot initiatives. Some of these contests will shape daily life in a community long after a presidential election is forgotten.
Political scientists have long documented what is known as "ballot roll-off" — the tendency for voters to participate in high-profile races while skipping contests farther down the ballot. A voter may know who they support for president or governor, but know far less about a school board race, judicial contest, or ballot measure that could affect their community for years to come.
Yet these are often the decisions that have the most immediate impact on daily life. When the ballot arrives at home, voters have the opportunity to look up candidates, read about ballot measures, and take the time needed to make informed decisions.
Few Americans would argue that voters should know less about the choices before them. Yet many election debates overlook the role that time plays in helping voters become informed participants.
The benefits of mail voting extend across a wide range of voters and circumstances. One of its most significant contributions is giving voters more time to engage with the choices before them.
For many Americans, it also provides a critical pathway to participation itself.
Voters with disabilities offer one example. In 2022, nearly 16 million Americans with disabilities voted. Research conducted for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found that voters with disabilities were 1.2 times more likely than others to vote by mail.
For these voters, mail voting can be a necessary path to participation.
Military and overseas voters provide another example. For generations, absentee voting has helped ensure that Americans serving abroad can participate in elections back home. But getting a ballot completed and returned is often subject to delays and complications, especially for those actively serving in the field.
As noted above, the Watson case centered on whether states may accept ballots received after Election Day. Should the very individuals serving our country abroad, or others who choose to vote by mail, lose their vote because of postal delay or other event beyond their control?
Most Americans are balancing work schedules, family responsibilities, health concerns, transportation challenges, and countless other demands on their time. Election systems that provide multiple pathways to participation – by mail, early in-person, or on Election Day itself - are often better positioned to meet voters where they are.
Election policies are often judged by how they affect election administration. They should also be judged by how they affect voter participation.
Whatever one's views on the decision this week in Watson, the conversation should not end with the legal ruling itself. The larger question is whether election systems give Americans a meaningful opportunity to cast a ballot and have it counted.
For millions of Americans — including voters with disabilities, military personnel stationed overseas, and citizens wishing to take the time to research down-ballot races — mail voting remains an important tool for participation in our democracy.
Brian Miller is the Executive Director of Nonprofit VOTE.
Rescuers continue to search for victims and work at a collapsed building after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean, on June 28, 2026 in Caraballeda, La Guaira, Venezuela.
MIAMI, FLA — After twin earthquakes shook parts of Northwestern and Central Venezuela last month, relief efforts have been quickly organized, particularly in South Florida, where the largest relief efforts are being organized.
Miami-Dade County is currently home to the largest Venezuelan diaspora in the country. With over 124,000 Venezuelan residents, the county accounts for about 17% of the national Venezuelan population.
With support from some of the largest national relief efforts for Venezuela, volunteers and organizations based in South Florida have shipped over 50 tons of supplies to communities in affected areas. These shipments include food, medicine, hygiene products, and other essentials.
The earthquakes hit Caracas and some of Venezuela’s coastal cities, including La Guaira and Catia La Mar. The death toll following the June 24 disaster has since reached over 5,000 and left over 16,000 people injured, according to reports from the Associated Press.
As the South Florida community continues to rally behind humanitarian efforts, the Fulcrum highlights four groups organizing support.
Founded in the wake of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, which impacted the lives of over 3.5 million people, the Global Empowerment Mission has since worked on 387 disaster relief missions across 76 countries.
Since the earthquakes in Venezuela, the organization has mobilized 20,000 volunteers and announced plans to establish a headquarters in La Guaira, one of the country’s most affected areas.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, CEO and Founder of GEM Michael Capponi described the catastrophe as “10,000 surfsides,” referring to the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South building that took the lives of 98 Miami-Dade County residents.
“This looks exactly like if you drove from First Street Miami Beach to like North Hollywood, and every other building or so looked like Surfside [after the condo collapse],” said Capponi in the July 17 story.
The Fulcrum reached out to GEM but did not receive a response in time for publication.
GEM is not working alone, however. Through key collaborations with organizations such as the We Love Foundation, an umbrella foundation based in Miami that organizes smaller projects, the mission has made a significant impact across South Florida.
This isn’t the first time GEM has worked in Venezuela; in 2019, the mission operated from Cúcuta, Colombia, to deliver aid directly to refugees in Venezuela, including medical supplies and equipment.
GEM is currently partnered with the City of Doral, Intercef Miami CF, NBC 6, and Telemundo 51 to collect donations and gather volunteers to support the people of Venezuela.
For more information regarding donations to GEM, click this link.
United Way Miami, one of South Florida’s oldest nonprofits, is currently partnering with the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald for Operation Helping Hands, a project to allocate funds to relief efforts in Venezuela.
United Way Miami, which has existed for more than a century, has largely worked within the Miami community to provide resources to underprivileged families and children, including opening a Center for Excellence in Early Education in 2007. United Way is also behind a $36.5 framework deal meant to support 84 programs and 48 nonprofit organizations.
With their funding, the collaborators have been able to send goods to Venezuelans in affected areas, made possible by the team at Dividiendo Voluntario para la Comunidad, Venezuela’s United Way chapter.
Other key collaborations with the Venezuela Chamber of Commerce and the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce have allowed the project to receive over 10.4 tons of food, 5,700 liters of water, and other beverages for donation.
The Fulcrum reached out to United Way Miami but did not receive a response in time for publication.
For more information on how to support the United Way’s efforts, click this link.
Founded in 2009, the Centro Comunitario AFE has been working in the Miami-Dade community to provide families with food assistance and community resources, including job searches and referrals.
Following the earthquakes, the center began rallying support by organizing a drive in collaboration with Univision Contigo to collect goods for donation, including non-perishable foods, personal hygiene products, first-aid supplies, and other essentials.
In an interview with Diario Las Americas, Ruben Jimenez, the center’s president and local pastor, shared that following the earthquakes, demand has been imperative. The Fulcrum has translated Ruben’s statement for clarity.
“It is urgent that this aid arrives quickly, because there are many people who are in great need right now,” said Jimenez to Diario Las Americas.
Since June 24, the center has been able to collect upwards of 250 pallets and sent
over 40 truckloads of supplies.
The Fulcrum reached out to the Centro Comunitario but did not receive a response in time for publication.
For more information on how to support the Center’s efforts, click this link.
But these larger non-profits aren’t the only ones organizing help for Venezuela; local businesses around the South Florida area have also been collecting and donating goods.
Local Venezuelan restaurants like El Arepazo have been collecting goods since the earthquakes struck Venezuela.
Other organizations, such as W Aviation, have been using their own resources to provide help for those gathering supplies. By using their aircraft storage, W Aviation has flown thousands of pounds of aid to Venezuela.
The Fulcrum reached out to W Aviation for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Even in Boca Raton, about an hour north of Miami, restaurants such as Doña Arepa have been collecting donations.
On August 16, Miami is set to host “Unidos por Venezuela,” a live-streamed concert in support of victims of the earthquake.
The benefit, which will be broadcast throughout the U.S. and Latin America, will be hosted at Miami’s primary arena, the Kaseya Center, and is headlined by artists such as Marc Anthony, Feid, Jay Wheeler, and more.
Organized by the Maestro Cares Foundation, TelevisaUnivision, and PIMIENTO Entertainment, the benefit hopes to raise funds for the effort. Univision Contigo is currently hosting a national donation drive with stops in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Miami, and has already raised over $154,000 to aid GEM.
Gabriela Quintero is an incoming freshman at Barnard College of Columbia University, pursuing her B.A. in Political Science and English. Interested in politics, migration, policy, and culture, she hopes to pursue a career in political and cultural journalism.
Og Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks shakes hands with Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on January 15, 2026 in San Francisco, California
At the New York Knicks NBA Championship parade last month, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of all stripes came together to celebrate the first Knicks title win in 53 years. The city united in public exuberance as strangers hugged, chanted, and danced together in the streets. In a deeply divided era, a basketball team did what our political institutions haven’t managed in years: it brought people together.
Yet while the celebrations in the country’s biggest city made national news, the same process of joy and unity through sports takes place less visibly every day in America’s little league baseball tournaments, summer recreational leagues, high school football games, gymnastics meets, and countless other athletic events. Bringing together players, coaches, and fans across red and blue lines, sports remind us that we are each more than our political affiliations.
Sports are also one of the last spaces where Americans promote team rivalries and vigorous competition, even while they expect all involved to play fair and accept outcomes—an official’s call, a game’s final score, and a season’s worth of results. We fully understand that good sportsmanship makes every sport better, providing a roadmap for democratic renewal.
Nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe being a good sport is similar to being a good citizen, according to the Reagan Foundation Center on Civility and Democracy’s recent survey on civility and sportsmanship. The survey also found that 64% believe sports competition teaches people how to manage conflict respectfully. Americans get it—major sports fans believe it even more. Seventy percent of major sports fans report that they are comfortable discussing politics with people they disagree with, compared to 55% of the general public.
Sports cultivate civility in a variety of ways. The handshake at the end of a hard-fought game is a recognition of the dedication and practice that led to an opponent’s skill. That kind of respect isn’t learned in a civics lesson. It’s lived through frequent contact and repeated engagement—season after season--with the people and the teams you’re trying to beat on the field.
Sports also teach us that no player wins alone, apart from coaches, teammates, and parents. Teamwork makes the common good tangible, reifying an idea politics usually keeps abstract: that we succeed or fail together. And in a society that’s increasingly atomized and lonely, sports leagues, recreational teams, and rivalries function as one of the few durable associations left, the kind of recurring, face-to-face contact that draws us out of our homes and into community.
Sportsmanship and civility don’t mean that we shouldn’t try to win the game or election, and they don’t mean we have to play soft. Body checking in hockey, for instance—hitting an opponent with your body to separate them from the puck—is part of the game. A specific set of rules dictates legitimate and prohibited behaviors to keep players safe and uphold the traditions of the sport.
In politics, principled obstruction, tough negotiations and procedural complexity aren’t flaws to be managed, but the mechanism through which different interests are expressed and the common good is negotiated. Democracies have room for gamesmanship—sly tactics and hard bargaining—but not bad faith actors, intent on cheating. It’s possible to argue vociferously about the issues that matter most without lying about the facts or attacking the character of your opponent.
Neither sports nor democratic government can survive when there is a disregard for the rules. Cheating breaks the agreement that makes the contest meaningful in the first place. Refusing to accept the results of a fair contest or election, or treating an opponent’s legitimacy as up for debate, isn’t hardball. It’s deceit that erodes the legitimacy of the whole system, causing everyday Americans to lose faith in the institutions that help our country thrive.
Some argue that in politics, the stakes are so much higher than a trophy. Policy involves serious matters, including whether we go to war or remain at peace, who is taxed and how much, how our healthcare system operates, and for some, if there is enough food on the table. I agree heartily: politics is more than a game. It’s for precisely this reason that we must do better.
Higher stakes mean it’s even more important to treat one’s opponent with respect, play by the rules, and uphold civility. Having a functioning political system that overcomes gridlock and partisan disputes with good faith and fair play to find common ground is exactly how we promote individual flourishing and American prosperity.
To restore civility to our fractured political landscape, we should view sports as a blueprint for democracy. Every summer, MLB’s All-Star Game offers a rehearsal of exactly this instinct. Fans of rival teams who cheer fiercely against each other all season reconfigure their divisional loyalties to root for one of the leagues. Players and fans alike discover that what they all have in common is a love of baseball.
Sports bring out the best in us. Whether watching or playing, they teach us how to win with humility and lose with grace. They provide a rare, neutral ground where we learn to respect our opponents’ differences and how to pull together for a common purpose. To strengthen our democracy, we should carry the mindset of the playing field back into our public square.
Lara Brown, Ph.D., is a senior policy advisor at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation’s Center on Civility and Democracy and a former George Washington University professor.
This nonpartisan policy brief, written by an ACE fellow, is republished by The Fulcrum as part of our partnership with the Alliance for Civic Engagement and our NextGen initiative — elevating student voices, strengthening civic education, and helping readers better understand democracy and public policy.
How Are Religions Recognized in the U.S. Military?
Introduced in World War 1, dog tags, or metal identification tags worn by U.S. service members, are one of the primary ways the U.S. military recognizes religions. Besides including a service member’s name, Department of War (DOW) identification number, and blood type, dog tags can include a service member’s religious preference. Since 2017, service members have chosen from a list of 211 recognized religions, also known as the “Faith and Belief Codes,” for their dog tag engravings. Outside of dog tags, the U.S. military has also shared service members’ religious preferences with the Army Chaplains Corp. First established under President George Washington, three chaplain corps (Army Chaplain Corps, the Air Force Chaplain Corps, and the Navy Chaplain Corps) host commissioned officers who provide religious support to service members and their families. As of today, more than 3,000 chaplains serve in the Chaplains Corp. Among them, approximately 110 religious faith groups are represented.
Why Did the U.S. Military Reduce Its List of Recognized Religions?
In a memo first released to news outlets on June 4, 2026, the DOW announced a reduction to the list of recognized religions by the U.S. military. A notable decrease from the 211 previously recognized religions, the new list, renamed “Religious Affiliation Codes,” contains just 31 religions. Intended to “streamline the DOW’s collection of religious preferences selection for Service members,” the move follows other previously announced changes by the Department, including chaplains being instructed to wear their religious insignia in place of their rank insignia, or symbols worn on military uniforms indicting a service member’s duties, pay grade, or rank. The new list of recognized religions is expected to take effect in July.
Who Supports the New List?
Supporters of DOW’s new, reduced list of recognized religions include Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony J. Tata, who suggested the new list would “enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy.” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell praised the DOW’s new list, calling it “long overdue” and beneficial to chaplains, who can now quickly respond to the spiritual needs of their units. Secretary of War’s Pete Hegseth, who hinted at reducing the list in late March, voiced his support for the new list and labeled the old list of over 200 religions “impractical and unusable.” Some veterans also supported the new list, with Retired Major General Randell E. Kitchens, who formerly served as the Air Force’s Chief of Chaplains, noting that the list "appears to represent major faith groups.”
Who Opposes the New List?
Critics of the DOW’s new, reduced list of recognized religions include lawmakers, religious organizations, and veterans. The Unitarian Universalist Association expressed concerns that, with Unitarian Universalism removed from the list, service members identifying with the religion could now face challenges accessing spiritual care. Meanwhile, co-founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Mikey Weinstein, argued that the change violated the U.S. Constitution's “separation of church and state.” Lawmakers like Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Senator John Curtis (R-UT) also questioned the new list, specifically the DOW’s decision to not label the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Christian denomination. Veterans protested the new list too, with a former U.S. Army Chaplain calling the new list “an excuse for the failure to provide the free exercise of religion for all people.”
What Will Happen to Chaplains and Service Members With Unrecognized Religions?
Although the DOW eventually responded to criticism of the new list by removing the labeling that stated whether a religion was a Christian denomination, 31 religions still remain on the list. That said, military experts like Retired General Steven Schaick worry chaplains of unrecognized religions could lose their ecclesiastical endorsement, an official certification from one’s religious denomination to serve as a chaplain. An ecclesiastical endorsement is required by all branches of the military. And while the memo stated service members could still put unrecognized religions on their dog tags, and many of the unrecognized religions remain on the Department of Veteran Affair’s (VA) list of approved emblems for headstones, some former military members predict that the changed policy will make some service members feel unrecognized, putting their well-being at risk.
Reclassifying Faith?: Inside the Department of War’s Revision to Its List of Religions was first published on The Alliance for Citizen Engagement and was republished with permission.
Stephanie Peterson is a senior at Purdue University Northwest.
