Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
The Iran War’s Price Tag: Billions Lost While Americans Go Without

The Iran War’s Price Tag: Billions Lost While Americans Go Without

Kristi Noem facing away with her hand up to be sworn in as she testifies.

Kristi Noem is a Criminal. They Fired Her Because She’s a Woman

People at voting booths.

Just the Facts: Voter ID, States’ Powers, and Federal Limits

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of the Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House

Trump’s Troubled Appointees Face Scandals, Backlash, and Low Support

Just the Facts: The SAVE Act and the Future of Voter ID Rules

Just the Facts: The SAVE Act and the Future of Voter ID Rules

Security dangers of online voting don't deter West Virginia

Online voting

West Virginia is about to expand online voting despite warnings that such systems are security risks.

Daniel Sambraus/EyeEm/Getty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumFeb 03, 2020
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

West Virginia is looking to become the first state to allow disabled people to vote using their smartphones.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice is expected to sign legislation, which breezed through the GOP-controlled Legislature last month, requiring all counties to provide an online balloting option to anyone who cannot use a regular voting machine because of physical disability.

The new law puts West Virginia more firmly on one side of the ease-versus-security divide in the debate over modernizing voting systems. In the wake of hacking attempts by Russian operatives during the 2016 election, almost all the experts on ways to prevent such interference are opposed to online voting of any sort. At the same time, advocates are pushing hard for methods making voting plausible for the one in eight Americans with a disability.

In 2018 West Virginia became the first state to create a mobile application for voting, but it was only available to members of the military stationed abroad. It was used by 147 West Virginians with homes in 24 countries to cast their midterm ballots for Congress and state offices.

GOP Secretary of State Mac Warner touts the safety of the app, which uses blockchain technology and requires a higher level of identity verification. It also uses facial recognition and thumbprints to verify the identity of the voter.

The legislation leaves it up to the local county clerks to decide where to use the same app or select a different voting system.

Last fall, West Virginia officials say someone attempted but failed to hack into the online voting system. The FBI is still investigating.

To date there have been nine elections in five states with limited mobile voting. But the new West Virginia law is moving to enactment at the same an American election is being conducted with every voter able to cast a ballot using a smartphone for the first time.

The contest, which concludes Feb. 11 and is open to 1.2 million people, is for supervisors of the King Conservation District, which oversees the natural resources in Seattle and about 30 surrounding towns.


Latest news

​U.S. President Donald Trump is shown on television monitor.
Ethics & Leadership

The Contradictions at the Heart of Trump’s Iran War Narrative

People at voting booths, casing their votes in front of a mural depicting the American flag, a bald eagle flying, and children holding hands in the foreground.
Electoral Reforms

Fixing Broken Systems: America’s Path Beyond Polarization

Protestors outside, holding signs that read, "Justice for survivors" and "National Organization for Women."
Ethics & Leadership

We Teach Prevention to Victims, Not Accountability to Power

The Democratic Party - Missing in Action
Ethics & Leadership

The Democratic Party - Missing in Action

Read More

Voters lining up to vote.

Voters line up at the Oak Lawn Branch Library voting center on Primary Election Day in Dallas on March 3, 2026. Republicans' decision to hold a split primary from the Democrats and to eliminate countywide voting forced Dallas County voters to cast ballots at assigned neighborhood precincts, leading to confusion. Republicans have now decided to use countywide polling locations for the May 26 runoff election.

Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune

Dallas County GOP Will Agree To Use Countywide Voting Sites for May 26 Runoff Election

Dallas County Republicans will agree to allow voters to cast ballots at countywide voting sites for the May 26 runoff election after a switch to precinct-based voting sites caused chaos, the county party chair said Tuesday.

Dallas County Republican Chairman Allen West supported the use of precinct-based sites earlier this month, but said using precincts again for the runoff would expose the county party to “increased risk and voter confusion” because the county is planning to use countywide sites for upcoming municipal elections and early voting.

Keep ReadingShow less
A person signing a piece of paper with other people around them.

Javon Jackson, center, was able to register to vote following passage of a 2019 Nevada law that restored voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals.

AP Photo/John Locher

The Nation Is Missing Millions of Voters Due to Lack of Rights for Former Felons

If you gathered every American with a prison record into one contiguous territory and admitted it to the union, you would create the 12th-largest state. It would be home to at least 7 million to 8 million people and hold a dozen votes in the Electoral College.

In a close presidential race, this hypothetical state of the formerly incarcerated could decide who wins the White House.

Keep ReadingShow less
With the focus on the voting posters, the people in the background of the photo sign up to vote.

An analysis of Trump’s SAVE Act strategy, the voter ID debate, and how Pew data is being misused—exploring election integrity, voter suppression, and the political fight shaping U.S. democracy.

Getty Images, SDI Productions

Stop Fighting Voter ID. Start Defining It.

President Trump doesn't need the SAVE America Act to pass. He only needs the debate to continue. Every minute spent arguing about voter suppression repeats the underlying premise — that noncitizen voting is a real and widespread problem — until it feels like an established fact. The question is whether Democrats will contest Republicans’ definition before the frame hardens.

Trump's claim that 88% of Americans support the bill traces to a Pew Research Center survey — a survey that found 83% support a “government-issued photo ID to vote,” not extreme vetting for proof of citizenship. That support included 95% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats, indicating genuine, broad, bipartisan support for a basic civic principle. That's worth taking seriously.

Keep ReadingShow less
People standing at voting booths.

The proposed SAVE Act and MEGA Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, risking the disenfranchisement of millions of eligible Americans.

Getty Images, EvgeniyShkolenko

The SAVE Act is a Solution in Search of A Problem

The federal government seems to be barreling toward a federal election power grab. Trump's State of the Union address called for the Senate to push through the SAVE Act, which has already passed the House, in the name of so-called "election integrity." And the SAVE Act isn’t the only such bill. Like the SAVE Act, the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act—introduced in the House—would require voters to provide a document outlined in the Act that allegedly proves their U.S. citizenship. We’ve been down this road before in Texas, and spoiler alert: it was unworkable.

Both the SAVE and MEGA Acts would disenfranchise millions of eligible U.S. citizens without making our federal elections more secure. They seek to roll out a faulty federal voter registration system, despite the existing separate registration and voting process for state and local elections. And these Acts target a minuscule “problem”—but would unleash mass voter purges and confusion.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026