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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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The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

At the heart of the Trump administration’s health agenda is a dramatic reorientation of public health priorities. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared during a Senate hearing last week:

“We at HHS are enacting a once-in-a-generation shift from a sick-care system, to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease.”

“Make America Healthy Again” has been met with both praise and fierce resistance. Republican Senator Mike Crapo supported the initiative, saying:

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The Promise Presidency: How Trump Rewrote the Rules of Political Accountability

President Donald Trump reacts as he speaks to the media while signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on September 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Promise Presidency: How Trump Rewrote the Rules of Political Accountability

In the theater of American politics, promises are political capital. Most politicians make promises cautiously, knowing that if they fail to fulfill them, they will be held accountable

But Donald Trump has rewritten the script. He repeatedly offers sweeping vows, yet the results often don't follow; somehow, he escapes the day of reckoning.

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