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USA Today: Efforts to speed up ballot-counting stalled in key states

Days of election uncertainty may be a train wreck that everyone sees coming, but officials in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania in Michigan don't seem any closer in making the changes needed to avert catastrophe. USA Today lays out the impasses.

The steps that could be taken to get a truer count on Election Night are well known. To deal with the millions of expected mail-in ballots, states could process and start counting votes-by-mail as soon they come in, or at least a couple of weeks before Nov. 3. Election officials can't do that in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or Michigan. Those three were all won by President Trump in 2016, they're all potential tipping point states this time — and they all have Democratic governors but Republican legislatures.


In Wisconsin, a judge blocked an effort to count absentee ballots before Election Day. Instead, officials are being given days after the election to process votes postmarked by Nov. 3. In Pennsylvania, Democrats wanted to start the processing 15 days ahead of time. Republicans offered three days and a removal of all the drop boxes in the state. Michigan's secretary of state, a Democrat, asked for seven days for processing. It looks like she's going to get 10 hours.

Election Dissection contributor Amber McReynolds of the National Vote at Home Institutetold the paper that extended processing periods not only lead to timely results, they enable voters to check on the status of their ballots. That would build confidence in the system.

"This would be like telling the IRS and telling the public, 'you have to have your taxes in by April 15. The IRS can't touch it until the day of the 15, and it has to be done by the next day.' That's basically what we're saying to our election officials in these states," McReynolds said.

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Just the Facts: Impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on Health Care

U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage during a reception for Republican members of the House of Representatives in the East Room of the White House on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump thanked GOP lawmakers for passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla

Just the Facts: Impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on Health Care

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, we remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.

What are the new Medicaid work requirements, and are they more lenient or more restrictive than what previously existed?

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The Crux of the Schism: What defines being American?
U.S.A. flag
Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash

The Crux of the Schism: What defines being American?

Undeniably, the U.S. body politic is in crisis today and has likely been unraveling for more than a decade. The rancorous polarization best exemplified by the demonization of MAGA on one side, and the elite establishment on the other, has become a daily preoccupation in many circles. True, there is undoubtedly a large group of Americans in a broadly defined center whose voices get drowned out by the extremes who scream the loudest. Yet despite this caveat, we are arguably witnessing the most ominous threat we’ve faced since the Civil War tore us asunder more than 150 years ago.

Much scrutiny focuses on the political, economic, and social aspects of the schism, all of which are important and in play. However, I would venture to guess that at its core, the disunion lies in the clashing concepts of what being an American signifies, and further, how these concepts have collided over the course of three centuries. While often not debated forthrightly, the battle can be distilled down to two conflicting views on the fundamental question of what constitutes being an American.

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Hey Bro! Do You Think Trump Has Your Back?

man wearing a red baseball cap, yelling

AI generated

Hey Bro! Do You Think Trump Has Your Back?

This is an open letter to all bros. You're angry. You're disillusioned. And you have every right to be. The question is, what do you do about it? How do you do something that's going to improve your life, your future?

Does the answer lie in a political party? Both Republicans and Democrats certainly want your vote. However, you don't feel that you can look to the Democratic Party for help. They seem to be particularly interested in women, people of color, and immigrants. They haven't spoken to you or done anything for you.

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