Voting

MS Now -  Nearly 50 million Americans age 18 to 29 can vote in the 2026 midterms. And 51% of them have no college experience, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE.

That’s partly because of which young people turn out. In the 2022 midterms, 50% of young people with a bachelor’s degree voted, compared with 20% of those whose highest level of education was a high school diploma, according to Census data compiled by CIRCLE.

Some argue that candidates could turn out more non-college-educated young people if they campaigned at places like job training centers, recreation centers and music festivals in addition to college campuses. 

Independent -  The Supreme Court has temporarily unblocked a controversial federal voter database ahead of November's midterms, granting President Donald Trump a temporary legal victory in his push against noncitizen voting.

The court’s three liberal justices issued a public dissent against the decision.

The emergency order permits state officials, for the time being, to access the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, known as SAVE, to check the eligibility of individuals on their voter rolls. Participation in the SAVE initiative remains voluntary for states.

Its immediate effect on the coming midterms is likely limited because federal law prohibits states from conducting systematic purges of voter rolls within 90 days of an election, according to David Becker, an election law expert who leads the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

The Nation  - - [Susan] Collins's undeniable gift for pork-barrel spending could now come back to haunt her, thanks to a new pay-for-play scandal broken on Tuesday by ProPublica. The ProPublica story focuses on Collins's links to Martin Kao, the former CEO of a defense contractor called Navatek. Last year, Kao was sentenced to 87 months in prison for bank fraud and Covid relief fraud.

Prior to his conviction, Kao had provided damning testimony to the FBI about a political quid pro quo scheme he was working. Legally, defense contractors are not allowed to donate to campaigns, so Kao used shell corporations to donate to super PACs supporting politicians who promoted Navatek projects to the Pentagon. Collins and her office were in the crosshairs of the FBI investigation into Kao's activities, but the senator was saved from possible criminal charges by Donald Trump's reelection, which led the president to fire FBI agents working on the investigation (some of whom had also investigated Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election).

Newsworthy News -California just made seizing ballots and voting machines a felony, sharpening a state-versus-federal showdown over who controls elections. Governor Gavin Newsom signed 13 election bills creating new felonies tied to ballots and voting tech.

Key measures punish seizing ballots before certification and directing others to interfere with mail ballots. Supporters say the laws guard against interference by federal or political actors; critics warn of limits on police near polls.

A separate California deepfake law drew a federal court injunction on First Amendment grounds, signaling legal risks.