🗞️Election threats, high prices, abortion bans and more

Election Day is almost here, but more than 50 million Americans have already cast their ballots during the early voting period.

County and state election officials are worried about threats of federal interference at the polls, but prepared for whatever happens, Stateline’s Kevin Hardy recently reported.

He also explored the No. 1 issue for voters during the midterm elections: high prices. Nearly 50% of Americans cannot afford the basic costs of living, according to a new analysis.

Abortion is not a top issue this election cycle, but it’s on the ballot in four states. Idaho is the only state with an initiative where abortion access would be restored.

Reproductive rights reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris spoke with a woman who had to leave the state to terminate a nonviable pregnancy after she received a fatal fetal diagnosis.

We also have stories on an uptick in pregnancy-related prosecutions, barriers to voting at colleges and declines in naturalizations.

Check out States Newsroom’s live blog Tuesday for the latest election coverage from all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

As always, thanks for reading.

Americans’ growing frustration over high prices has defined many political campaigns ahead of the midterm elections. Rising costs of healthcare, gas and groceries during President Donald Trump’s second term have put Republicans on defense, not only in Washington, but in statehouse and gubernatorial races across the country. A new analysis underscores just how expensive everyday life has become.

In the first three years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, more than 900 women faced criminal charges for conduct related to their pregnancies, according to a new report. Most state laws that prohibit or regulate abortion seek to penalize those who provide abortions, not the women who undergo them; the vast majority of the charges — 876 of 955 — were for child abuse, neglect or endangerment, most related to substance use during pregnancy. But the new report comes as a growing number of state legislators are pushing to prosecute women for having abortions.

University student leaders around the country are pushing to make voting more accessible to college students. Students have protested against laws and decisions from local election officials that they say could make casting ballots harder, including off-campus polling sites and bans on student IDs when voting.

It didn’t take long for doctors to see that something was amiss with Rebecca Crozier’s pregnancy. And at 11 weeks’ gestation, the specialists told her the baby had anencephaly, a fatal condition. In many states, even ones with abortion bans, Crozier would have had the option to terminate the pregnancy. But Idaho’s near-total prohibition includes no exceptions for fatal anomalies. She had to leave the state.

As concerns rise about the potential for federal influence over the results of the midterm elections, many voting experts and advocates remain confident that the nation’s highly localized systems of administering and counting votes will persevere. Facing sinking approval ratings over high prices, the White House has amped up attacks on state-administered elections. But the nation’s vast network of state and local election offices is resilient by design, experts say.

By Tim Henderson

The Trump administration cut naturalization sharply over the past year, leading to accusations it’s holding back hundreds of thousands of people who might have voted in the midterms.

It’s hard to say how those people might have voted had they become U.S. citizens. Naturalized citizens voted Democratic for president by a wide margin in 2020, but in a shift almost half voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, according to a Pew Research Center analysis last year. However, recent elections in immigrant areas in Florida and New Jersey show a return to traditional Democratic voting patterns as anger mounts over mass arrests and deportations of non-criminal immigrants.

The most recent quarterly report from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows the agency approved about 55,000 requests for citizenship between April and June, compared with more than 230,000 for the same period last year. 

Naturalizations began dropping late last year as USCIS started a new, longer process for applicants, including screening social media accounts for “anti-American activities,” and requirements for more English language and civics knowledge, USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler told Stateline in a statement. 

The potential impact: Almost 380,000 immigrants might have become citizens — and therefore voters — over the past year had the approval rate stayed the same. Almost all would have been potential midterm voters since only adults can complete the naturalization process recorded in statistics — children can get naturalized citizenship in other ways based on their parents’ status.