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5 election stories you may have missed

Pennsylvania voters

Pennsylvania voters cast their ballots during Tuesday's local election.

Pete Bannan/Getty Images

While some states are still dealing with the aftermath of the 2020 election, others are focused on high-stakes local contests this year.

Here are five stories to help you catch up on the latest election news.


Arizona secretary of state may not let Maricopa County reuse voting machines after audit (Arizona Republic)

Experts say Pa.'s 2021 primary was typical, but GOP lawmakers are seizing on issues (Spotlight PA)

Appeal offers hope for Texas woman facing five years for voting illegally (The Guardian)

Florida elections law hit with another lawsuit saying it's unconstitutional (Orlando Sentinel)

Ranked-choice voting faces high-stakes test in New York City mayoral race (CBS News)


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Donald Trump, US President

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks briefly to the press as he arrives during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on Sept. 22, 2026.

(Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images/TCA)

Trump will lose his war against the press

“To offend a strong man, tell him a lie. To offend a weak man, tell him the truth.”

That quote, often attributed to Marcus Aurelius, one of the great Stoics, perfectly encapsulates the very troubling and sad moment we’re in, and the very troubling and sad president we’re dealing with.

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People wearing vests with "ICE" and "Police" on the back.

People wearing vests with "ICE" and "Police" on the back.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

When Immigrants’ Rights Are Threatened, Democracy Is Too

The Fulcrum is committed to nurturing the next generation of journalists.

We asked Abbey Osborn, a Fall Fulcrum Fellow, to share what democracy means to her and her view of its current health.

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Hasan Piker

Influencer and left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker is introduced during a campaign rally for Wisconsin Gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong on Aug. 2, 2026, in Milwaukee.

(Joshua Lott/Getty Images/TNS)

While the world is on fire, the media are still obsessed with Israel

No one likes to think they’re being hysterical. And nothing makes hysterical people angrier than being described as such. So, let me offer my apologies in advance for what follows.

Jeremy Musighi, an independent researcher, recently released a study analyzing 14.7 million news articles published across 65 languages over the last decade. He found that, in 2024, news outlets published “more than twice as many stories about Israel as about all 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa combined.”

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Person using mobile smartphone chatting with AI chatbot, conversation assistant, customer support

New research shows AI beats elite debaters in persuasion — not through better arguments, but by out-pacing human reading and reply speed.

MUNTHITA LAMLUE/Getty Images

Political Chatbots Should Not Be Allowed To Set the Pace

A political chatbot can answer before a citizen has finished reading its previous message. It can add statistics, historical examples, causal claims and links at a rate no human campaign volunteer could match. That does not necessarily make its case wiser. It changes the contest by allowing one speaker to control the tempo.

A June 2026 preprint offers unusually direct evidence of this problem. Across four preregistered experiments involving 18,978 conversations from 6,923 people, frontier AI systems were more persuasive than laypeople, tournament winners, professional canvassers and elite competitive debaters. The human experts were not casual opponents: the study included world and continental champions, paid preparation, live practice and substantial performance incentives.

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