Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs

Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs

Just the Facts: Trade Deficits

Just the Facts: Trade Deficits

Redistricting

Redistricting

Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs on stage

Luke Combs, politics and healing our nation's divide

A fictional, fanciful sign depicts the results of voter suppression through the unfair, partisan manipulation of district lines (gerrymandering).

The worst congressional gerrymanders of the 2020s

The Fulcrum Digest: Voting Access Proposals Are Sweeping the Nation

David Meyers
By David MeyersMay 06, 2019
David Meyers

David Meyers is the Executive Editor of The Fulcrum. Before launching The Fulcrum, David spent more than two decades at CQ Roll Call, a leading publisher of political news and information. During his time there, David served as managing editor of Roll Call (“the newspaper of Capitol Hill”) and as managing editor of member information and research, which included co-editing the definitive biographical directory of Congress, “Politics in America.” David went on to lead all of CQ Roll Call’s congressional research teams as vice president of research and content development before shifting to a revenue and strategy role as vice president of business operations for Roll Call, working with the advertising and editorial teams to develop new revenue models and expand the company’s events business. David lives in Fairfax, Va., with his wife, two daughters and rottweiler. A graduate of Tufts University, David is a past president of the Tufts University Alumni Association. He is also a past president of the Washington Press Club Foundation, which works to celebrate and advance the role of women and minorities in the media. David currently serves on the board of directors for Temple B’nai Shalom in Fairfax Station.

See More Writings by author

There has been a surge in legislation to ease access to the polls during the early days of state legislative sessions across the country.

The New York University School of Law's Brennan Center counts at least 230 bills that have been filed or pre-filed at state capitals since the midterm election – with bipartisan efforts to place automatic voter registration, vote-by-mail, same-day registration or the restoration of voting rights for convicted felons on the legislative agendas in 31 states.

Hawaii Moves Toward Always Voting by Mail

Legislators in Hawaii this week began debating a range of election measures including a proposal to make the archipelago the fourth state in the nation that conducts all voting by mail.

Mail ballots are now an option and have outnumbered those cast at traditional polling places since 2014. A bill starting to move in the legislature would shift Hawaii to an exclusively mail-in system in 2022. Previous have been passed by the state Senate but ignored in the state House. However, Democratic majority leaders in both chambers say they are supportive of the reform this session, Honolulu Civic Beat reports.

Ranked-Choice Voting Gets Next Test in D.C. Suburbs

One of the hottest concepts in the world of election modernization is "ranked-choice voting" – where rather than selecting one candidate per contest, voters list candidates for each office in order of preference. Whenever no one secures majority support in the first round, an automated runoff among top finishers kicks in.

It's hailed by supporters as a means of giving more power to voters, enhancing the prospects of outsider candidates, boosting civility in campaigns and producing more consensus-minded lawmakers. Detractors see the system as confusing and in someway disenfranchising.

Latest news

Build Community Norms and Reduce Intergroup Anxiety
Bridging & Common Ground

Build Community Norms and Reduce Intergroup Anxiety

The Eagles Soar
Bridging & Common Ground

The Eagles Soar

An AI Spark Worth Spreading
Media & Technology

An AI Spark Worth Spreading

Read More

Close up of a judge hammering a gavel
Chris Collins/Getty Images

Congress Bill Spotlight: Impeaching Judges Who Rule Against Trump

The Fulcrum introduces Congress Bill Spotlight, a weekly report by Jesse Rifkin, focusing on the noteworthy legislation of the thousands introduced in Congress. Rifkin has written about Congress for years, and now he's dissecting the most interesting bills you need to know about, but that often don't get the right news coverage.

Federal judges have ruled against Trump on issues including immigrant deportations, transgender healthcare information, and Elon Musk’s DOGE. Should they be impeached?

Keep ReadingShow less
The Fahey Q&A: Estevan Muñoz-Howard on Seattle's Democracy Voucher Program

Estevan Muñoz-Howard.

The Fahey Q&A: Estevan Muñoz-Howard on Seattle's Democracy Voucher Program

Since organizing theVoters Not Politicians2018 ballot initiative that put citizens in charge ofdrawing Michigan's legislative maps, Katie Fahey has been the founding executive director of ThePeople, forming statewide networks to promote government accountability. She regularlyinterviews colleagues in the world of democracy reform for The Fulcrum.

Estevan Muñoz-Howard is Senior Director at Ktisis Capital, Treasurer for the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, and Executive Board member of Voices for Progress. He has over 15 years of experience leading programs and coalitions in the nonprofit sector, including the successful Honest Elections Seattle campaign of 2015—a historic initiative to implement the world’s first Democracy Voucher program. He is passionate about inclusive democracy, community organizing, and the diffusion of power.

Keep ReadingShow less
CO lawmakers work to protect voter rights after Trump elections order

More than 95% of all voters in the United States use paper ballots in elections.

Adobe Stock

CO lawmakers work to protect voter rights after Trump elections order

Some Colorado lawmakers are scrambling to protect voter rights after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. They say the requirement would disproportionately affect low-income voters and people of color.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the language in the U.S. Constitution is very clear that the authority to run elections is delegated to individual states.

"Everyone - Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative - wants to keep ineligible voters off the list. And there's always some value in discussing how to do it better," he explained. "Unfortunately that's not what this executive order does. It's really a remarkable seizure of power from the states."

Trump has cast doubt on the integrity of American elections for years, despite evidence that fraud is extremely rare. The new order claims the nation has failed "to enforce basic and necessary election protections," and would allow the Department of Homeland Security and 'DOGE' to access state voter rolls. Colorado Senate Bill 1 - which would bar voter discrimination based on race, sexual orientation or gender identity - has cleared the state Senate and now moves to the House.

Becker noted that Congress does have constitutional authority to change election rules, and did so most notably after passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. And in 2021, he says House Democrats passed a sweeping set of election reforms that ended up dying in the Senate.

"But at least that was done through congressional action. What we have here is an executive power grab - an attempt by the President of the United States to dictate to states how they run elections, how they should exercise the power that is granted to them by the Constitution," he continued.

Becker noted the new order suggests serious misunderstandings, intentional or not, about the nation's election system, which he says is secure. It's already illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote, and voter lists are as accurate as they've ever been. More than 95% of all U.S. voters use paper ballots, which are available in all states, and ballots are audited to confirm results.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Keep ReadingShow less
Historic Bipartisan Reform Passed Into Law

A voter receiving information.

Getty Images, SeventyFour

Historic Bipartisan Reform Passed Into Law

On April 8, 2025, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed SB 16 into law, a historic bipartisan reform that gives more than 330,000 independent voters—who make up nearly 25% of New Mexico’s electorate—the right to vote in the state’s primary elections, starting in 2026. This continues an overall nationwide trend of states opening their primary elections to more voters.

“New Mexico’s open primaries law will ensure that every eligible voter has a say in every taxpayer-funded election, not just those who choose to affiliate with a party,” said Nick Troiano, Executive Director of Unite America. “For too long, a quarter of New Mexicans have been locked out of their state’s primary elections—which in most cases are the only elections that matter. Ending closed primaries is an important step toward increasing participation and representation in our democracy.”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025