IVN Editorial BoardTrump's executive order from March required the USPS to create national standards for delivering mail-in ballots. Less than two months from Election Day, nobody can say for certain what happens to your ballot after you mail it.
USPS published its final mail-ballot rule on August 26. A federal judge blocked it on September 4. The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on September 6. Without a final decision, North Carolina has already started mailing ballots. Shawn Griffiths cuts through the whiplash with 7 things every voter needs to know right now.
Meanwhile, in Missouri, politicians tried twice to squash citizen-led initiatives that limit partisan manipulation of elections, but the state’s highest court stopped them both times.
Now, some voices in the mainstream media are starting to focus on the importance scrutinizing our electoral processes. On CNN, Fareed Zakaria made the case for letting independents vote in primaries. And in Iowa, gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand is betting his race on one promise: end closed primaries.
Check out more stories that go outside the two-sided narrative below.
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Can USPS Still Stop Your Mail Ballot? 7 Things Voters Need to Know Now
A final USPS rule, a federal injunction, an emergency Supreme Court petition — all in two weeks, with ballots already in the mail. Shawn Griffiths untangles the fast-moving fight over mail voting into the 7 things voters actually need to know.
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Are The Independent Senate Candidates Really 'Toxic Socialist Democrats'?
Republicans have a new attack line for the independents running for Senate: they’re secretly “toxic socialist Democrats.” Matt Shinners checks the records of the actual candidates — and the label doesn’t survive contact with the facts.
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Independent Voter Podcast
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joins EP57 on defying his own party’s pressure to drop out of the California governor’s race — and why the voters, not party bosses, should decide who stays in.
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San Francisco Democrats Just Said No to Taxing Billionaires
Cara Brown McCormick on the rare public split inside San Francisco’s Democratic Party: the party refused to endorse a one-time wealth tax on billionaires — and the fight says a lot about who the party answers to.
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Trump Falsely Attacks Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska, Vows to Campaign for Sullivan
President Trump called ranked choice voting “totally dishonest” — claiming someone “backstage” picks the winner — while vowing to campaign for Sen. Dan Sullivan. He’s not alone: the DNC tried to ban RCV in 2028 primaries this summer before backlash forced a reversal. Opposition to RCV, it turns out, comes from whichever party holds power — Alaskans have approved the system twice.
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Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Army veteran Paul Rieckhoff on the chaos at the Pentagon — Driscoll out, Hegseth paying trolls on X — and why, with Democrats moving left and Republicans moving right, politically homeless independents are flexing nationally.
