Hi everyone!

Just 10 days to go. Here’s a look at what’s in this edition:

The 2026 midterms will decide who runs elections in 29 states.
Trump administration lawsuits against California and Alaska.
A really banger dispatch from an idyllic county in Northern Michigan whose clerk went rogue.

How to prepare for the midterms

Elections in the United States don’t only happen on Election Day. They happen in the weeks ahead as election officials process voter registrations, mail absentee ballots and administer early voting.

So, how is mail voting going across the country? Or early voting at the polls? And what should Americans know about potential federal interference ahead of Election Day? Check in with election experts at Votebeat’s virtual event on Oct. 27 at 12 p.m. ET.

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Don’t tell the other cycles, but midterms are our favorite election years here at Votebeat. No other election is as decisive for who runs our democracy: This year, 24 states will directly elect their next top election official. Five more have chief election officials who are appointed by other offices on the ballot this year.

All told, in a little over a week, voters will decide who oversees elections in states worth 325 electoral votes. I choose that unit of measurement deliberately: These are the people who will run the 2028 presidential election, and the choices they will make matter. State election officials (usually, but not always, the secretary of state) issue rules that fill in the gaps in state election law and decide how aggressively to clean their voter rolls. They have a bully pulpit that can emphasize either voter access or the penalties for voting illegally. And they decide how closely to work with the federal government — e.g., by sharing their full voter file with the Trump administration or not.

Because of open seats, we already know for sure that 13 states will have new chief election officials starting next year. But several seats could also switch parties, including in some surprising states. As you settle in to watch the results of the 2026 elections, don’t forget to keep an eye on these underrated races.

Democrats could flip several top election offices

With polling generally pointing toward a good election cycle for Democrats, the party could win several secretary of state offices currently held by Republicans.

Perhaps the biggest prize is the presidential swing state of Georgia, where incumbent Brad Raffensperger — best known for resisting President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election in the state — is retiring. Former Judge Penny Brown Reynolds, the Democratic candidate, has put Trump front and center in the race with her opposition to his attempts to interfere with election administration. State Rep. Tim Fleming, the Republican candidate, agrees with many of Trump’s priorities like passing the SAVE America Act and eliminating no-excuse absentee voting, but he notably supported the Supreme Court’s blocking the U.S. Postal Service from regulating mail ballots. This race is also especially important because Georgia’s secretary of state will be in charge of implementing a new voting system for 2028.

Democrats also have a shot at picking up secretary of state seats in normally Republican states that this year have become competitive up and down the ballot. For instance, in Iowa, four-term incumbent Paul Pate has found himself in a close race with Democrat Ryan Peterman, a former Navy pilot.

In Kansas, Democratic former state Rep. Jennifer Day is hoping to score a surprise victory over Republican state Rep. Pat Proctor, who championed several restrictive election bills as chair of the House Elections Committee.

And in Ohio, Democratic state Rep. Allison Russo and Republican state Treasurer Robert Sprague have clashed over drop boxes, voter ID, and a proof of citizenship requirement.

A confluence of events may have even created an opening for Democratic businesswoman Sarah Slattery in Nebraska. In May, Secretary of State Bob Evnen lost the Republican primary to far-right businessman Scott Petersen, who has spread unfounded concerns that the state’s elections are insecure. Then, in September, former state Sen. Bob Krist — a moderate — announced his candidacy as a member of the America First Party, which could siphon off Republican votes.

It’s a similar situation in Indiana, where Secretary of State Diego Morales lost renomination to Max Engling, a former aide to Sen. Jim Banks. Engling is actually probably a stronger GOP candidate than Morales, who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election and faced multiple scandals in office. But he faces a star Democratic candidate in Marine veteran Beau Bayh (the scion of a legendary Indiana political family) as well as two potential spoilers: former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, a Republican-turned-independent, and Libertarian Lauri Shillings.

In three other states, the secretary of state is not directly elected, but the results of other races could lead to the appointment of a new chief election official. In Florida and Texas, Democrats are waging unexpectedly strong campaigns for governor, who has the power to appoint the secretary of state in those places. And in New Hampshire, the secretary of state is elected by the state legislature, which could very well flip to Democratic control this year.

Finally, Alaska doesn’t have a secretary of state; instead, its elections are run by the lieutenant governor, who is elected on a ticket with the governor. Under Alaska’s unique ranked-choice voting system, voters will have four tickets to choose from, and the ultimate winner could be either a Democrat or a Republican.

These secretary of state offices could change from Democratic to Republican

Democrats are also playing defense in a handful of states, including some key swing states. In Michigan, Republican Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini and Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist are in a tight race to replace incumbent Jocelyn Benson, who’s running for governor. Gilchrist has vowed not to hand over Michigan’s voter data to the Trump administration, while Forlini has shown more willingness to work with the federal government to keep noncitizens off the rolls.

Meanwhile, in both Arizona and Nevada, Democratic incumbents are looking to fend off challenges from Republicans who have lobbied to overturn the 2020 election.

In Arizona, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has had to defend the state’s voting systems — and himself — against attacks from state Rep. Alexander Kolodin. Kolodin, a member of the state Freedom Caucus, has pushed pro-voter-ID and anti-mail-voting bills in the legislature and served as an attorney on a lawsuit that falsely claimed the state’s 2020 election was rigged against Trump.

Nevada’s race is a rematch between Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and former state Rep. Jim Marchant, who lost to Aguilar by 2 percentage points in 2022. Aguilar has been on the front lines of resisting Trump’s incursions into state election administration, most notably by refuting the administration’s claims that 16,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in the state. By contrast, Marchant says he does not trust the validity of any Nevada elections since the mid-2000s.

Finally, in Minnesota, Republican former state legislator Tad Jude is trying to unseat Secretary of State Steve Simon. In 1972, Jude made history as the youngest person ever elected to the Minnesota Legislature; nowadays, he wants Minnesota to start using the federal government’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, tool to clean up the state’s voter roll.

6 other states will also get new chief election officials

Six more states aren’t expected to have competitive elections for secretary of state this fall, but they’re worth noting because the old secretary is leaving office at the end of the year. For instance, in Alabama, Republican attorney Caroleene Dobson is poised to win the race to succeed incumbent Wes Allen. Dobson says she plans to create a division within the secretary’s office to investigate voter fraud.

Arkansas’ likely next secretary of state is Republican state Sen. Kim Hammer. Hammer’s opponents have criticized him for sponsoring new laws to make Arkansas’ ballot initiative process harder, the subject of an ongoing legal battle.

In South Dakota, Republican state Rep. Heather Baxter is the favorite to succeed Secretary of State Monae Johnson. Over the summer, the Trump-aligned Baxter defeated Johnson for renomination on a platform of hand-counting every ballot, prompting Johnson to endorse her Democratic opponent in the general election.

To the west, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray — one of the country’s most pro-Trump secretaries — is leaving office and will be replaced by a very different kind of Republican: Converse County Commissioner Robert Short has firmly rejected Trump’s claims of voter fraud, supports mail voting, and wants to make it easier to register to vote.

Democrats are poised to have two new secretaries of state as well. In Colorado, Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez, the former leader of Colorado Common Cause, is favored to succeed term-limited incumbent Jena Griswold. And in New Mexico, incumbent Maggie Toulouse Oliver will likely hand the keys over to Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin.