The Column: April 2026
Welcome to The Column, a monthly newsletter from the Pillars of the Community team. Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, we will provide monthly updates on how Pillars across the country are examining the election process, building trust in the system, and getting their networks involved.
April has been a busy month for the Pillars team. As noted below, we officially kicked off the program at the national level, welcoming more than 100 community leaders for an overview of the Pillars of the Community initiative, along with a substantive conversation about what it means to serve as a Pillar and what participants can expect as we head into 2026.
From there, we took the program on the road. In Michigan and North Carolina, we convened Pillars alongside election officials for candid, informative discussions on how administrators are preparing for upcoming elections, strengthening safeguards, and working to ensure results are reliable, transparent, and accurate. These conversations continue to reinforce the value of direct engagement and firsthand exposure to election processes.
Looking ahead, we are actively scheduling additional meetings and facility tours across our states, with more opportunities for both in-person and virtual engagement in the coming weeks. We look forward to connecting with each of you soon and continuing to build momentum together.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
April was a big month for Pillars of the Community. In addition to hosting our first all-state call with more than one hundred community leaders from across our seven states, we also held kick off education events in North Carolina and Michigan. See a readout from each event below:
National Kickoff
On April 2, Pillars of the Community kicked off its 2026 programming with a national call that brought together more than 100 community leaders from seven key states, marking the start of a new phase of the Pillars program’s work to strengthen trust in the election system. Led by bipartisan co-chairs Ben Ginsberg and Bob Bauer, the program connects trusted local voices from business, faith, education, and civic life with election officials for open, firsthand engagement. During the kickoff call, Ginsberg and Bauer provided an overview of the program, took questions, and shared their insights on what’s to come in 2026.
Raleigh Election Education Session
On April 16, Pillars co-chair Ben Ginsberg convened more than 20 community leaders in Raleigh, for the inaugural North Carolina Pillars of the Community event. During the event, North Carolina State Election Board Director Sam Hayes provided an overview of his role, the safeguards in place around North Carolina’s elections, and his ongoing efforts to improve transparency for voters. Hayes was followed by a presentation from Durham County Election Director Derek Bowens. Bowens spoke about “Hot Topics” in elections including voter list maintenance, assessing voter eligibility, and reporting election results. The session concluded with a Q&A session, during which Pillars asked officials questions about how the system operates.
Lansing Election Education Session
Pillars co-chair Bob Bauer kicked off the first Michigan Pillars event with more than 20 community leaders in Lansing on April 17. Leaders from a wide range of communities and organizations — including business, campus, veterans’ and civic communities — heard from election officials and engaged in a robust discussion. Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Adevbie, Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons, and Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope shared their respective roles in election administration and their perspectives on existing safeguards in Michigan election systems.
PILLARS IN THE MEDIA
Following the release of a Marquette University Law School poll that found that 43% of Wisconsin voters believe local election officials submit false vote counts at least some of the time, Wisconsin Pillars Jason Fields and Tim Higgins joined together to voice their support for Wisconsin’s election system. See an excerpt from their op-ed below:
“Pillars of the Community is made up of a diverse group of civic and community leaders from both political parties who had the opportunity to sit down with election officials to learn more about election administration. The officials walked us through the process step by step, and we had the opportunity to ask all the tough questions we could think of.
What we found was not a system ripe for manipulation, but one that was accurate, reliable, secure, and administered by dedicated public servants. Multiple layers of safeguards are in place to prevent actual fraud and protect against honest human error. Paper ballot records of every vote cast are kept, and audits are performed to ensure accuracy after each election.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement. Every system – including our elections process – should always be looking for ways to improve. That said, what we found is the fundamental underpinnings of our election process are sound.”
Read Jason and Tim’s Op-ed Here.
Earlier this month, Wisconsin Pillar and longtime author of the “Inside Wisconsin” column, Tom Still, wrote about the Pillars of the Community kickoff event, calls to federalize elections, and how attempts to defraud Wisconsin’s election system won’t go undiscovered or unpunished.
NEWS ON THE GROUND:
Pillars of the Community is active in seven of the most pivotal and contentious states in the United States, and with the 2026 midterms on the horizon, we’re tracking election news on the ground.
Here are the highlights:
ARIZONA: The Electronic Registration Information Center recently reviewed ballots cast in the 2024 Arizona election and found that only 28 out of the 3.6 million were flagged as being potentially cast unlawfully.
NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina election officials found no evidence to support Phil Berger’s claims of ballot irregularities in his primary loss, concluding it was highly unlikely that any voters received incorrect ballots. Berger conceded his race after a hand recount held under state law for close elections confirmed the accuracy of the vote totals.
GEORGIA: Georgia officials and election workers face uncertainty ahead of upcoming elections after lawmakers failed to resolve how ballots will be counted following a ban on QR code scanning. With no clear guidance from state leaders, election officials warn of potential operational challenges, rushed system changes, and even staff resignations as they prepare for Election Day.
PENNSYLVANIA: A Pennsylvania audit found the state’s Motor Voter system is functioning as intended.It identified just one confirmed non-citizen application out of the more than 200,000 reviewed, which was caused by human error and was corrected immediately. The report recommended minor process improvements to reduce mistakes, while affirming overall compliance with election laws.
CONTACT US
Do you have a question about the Pillars of the Community program? Are there any questions that you have about the election process that you’re particularly interested in? Would you like to add a friend or colleague to our mailing list? Send us an email at [email protected].