{
  "id": 17954930,
  "title": "We Can’t Predict What Will Happen on Election Day. But We’ll Be Here to Cover It.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/we-cant-predict-what-will-happen-on-election-day-but-well-be-here-to",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-03T11:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ProPublica",
    "slug": "propublica",
    "url": "https://www.propublica.org/article/propublica-approach-2026-midterm-elections"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The midterms of 2022 have been unlike any other election cycle. Wealthy donors have spent enormous amounts of money. Both parties have been involved in redrawing congressional district lines. President Donald Trump and his supporters have continuously questioned the trustworthiness of election results even before any votes have been counted. Following Trump's directives, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit, asserting that the federal government would contest any outcome where Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent in Alaska, did not win. Newsrooms, including this one, have struggled to devise strategies for covering an election where the losing party may refuse to accept the will of the voters. We are now faced with the challenge of predicting what might happen on November 3 and beyond, a task that is not our expertise. We know journalists are generally adept at reporting on what happened, especially when given sufficient time and data, but we are less skilled at predicting the future. However, we must still prepare. In recent weeks, our reporters and editors have been trained to cover every conceivable scenario. None of us have forgotten the turmoil of the 2020 midterms when Trump's advisers suggested sending the military to seize voting machines in states he had lost. The January 6th, 2021, assault on the Capitol as lawmakers convened to certify Joe Biden's victory further emphasized that anything was possible in the aftermath of an election. We will have reporters stationed in 11 key states covering the voting process, with additional reporters in Washington, D.C., and others on standby. Our reporters have identified what experts will be monitoring. Elections, however, are no longer restricted to Election Day. Early voting and mail-in ballots account for a significant portion of the electorate. Over the past year, we have employed the principles of accountability journalism to contribute fresh perspectives to this critical moment in American history. We have concentrated on the intricacies of elections, a topic that has become central to the MAGA movement's argument that Trump's 2020 loss was \"rigged\" by his opponents. We investigated how the Trump administration reduced the resources of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the federal agency responsible for protecting election systems. We discovered that DHS officials had requested CISA to acquire a voting machine and allegedly exploit any discovered vulnerabilities. Although the plan was not executed, it left CISA employees apprehensive about potentially engaging in political interference. CISA and DHS have not responded to our inquiries, but a White House spokesperson stated that Trump \"has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections.\" Another story examined how postal service cost-cutting measures during this year's primaries endangered the integrity of mail-in ballots in rural, typically Republican, counties. The postal service claimed such delays are unlikely during the general election. One of our most comprehensive election stories traced the career of Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who spearheaded the legal challenges to the 2020 results. Mitchell leads a coalition of individuals she refers to as \"election believers\" – people who scrutinize voting results for errors that they believe point to larger conspiracies. Although changes she advocated for Trump to implement before the midterms, such as requiring states to share confidential voter information with the Justice Department, have been thwarted by the courts, she has emerged as the voice of a well-funded national movement with the president's support. When Trump decides how to respond to the upcoming vote, our reporting suggests that Mitchell will likely be among the individuals he consults. We attempted to contact Mitchell multiple times but were unsuccessful; she told us via email that her focus is on ensuring the election process is accurate, transparent, and honest. The only action she has urged the administration to take is one that would provide all voters with confidence in the correctness of the results. The White House spokesperson stated that she has no official role in election policy but serves as an influential private advocate. We have also invested time in traditional investigative reporting, closely examining candidates' records in public office. Our newsroom cannot cover every race, so we prioritize areas where we possess specialized expertise. Our team in Texas has been covering state Attorney General Ken Paxton for years, and we maintained our focus when he declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. A story revealed that only 1 in 6 of Paxton's nearly 1,000 out-of-state trips were related to his official duties, with taxpayers bearing the cost of $3.3 million for his security detail. While Paxton declined our questions, his office claimed he had faced numerous security threats. This issue has become a point of contention in the Senate campaign. Additionally, an investigation that seemed unrelated to the midterms offered an opportunity. Our examination of the Trump administration's handling of the Justice Department uncovered that the FBI had been investigating pay-to-play allegations involving prominent Democratic and Republican members of Congress for many months.",
  "summary": "The post We Can’t Predict What Will Happen on Election Day. But We’ll Be Here to Cover It. appeared first on ProPublica .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}