The Column: March 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.
We are pleased to present this March edition of the monthly Pillars newsletter. You will receive brief reports on state developments, and, as we move deeper into this midterm election year, we will also keep you posted on activities by our Pillars in various states.
This month, we bring to your attention an excellent op-ed by Barb Cross, a Pennsylvania Pillar, who explains the problems with recent calls to “nationalize” our elections. Barb’s piece is an example of how Pillars can weigh in with informed commentary for the benefit of their communities on key issues in preparation for the upcoming elections. As we note below, we are glad to help support Pillars who may wish to publish their views on election administration issues, including locating the right outlets for the placement of thought leadership pieces.
We thank you again for all you do in your communities and for your work with us as Pillars.
PRIMARY RECAP
Primary season is officially underway after voters in Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas took to the polls earlier this month. Across several states, tight races shed a light on what happens when elections come down to the wire.
In North Carolina, the race to be the Republican party’s nominee for Senate District 26 came down to two votes. Following the close count, election officials worked to tabulate cured absentee-by-mail ballots and provisional ballots. After the provisional ballots were tallied, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page pulled ahead by 23 votes. While there are a handful of military and overseas ballots remaining to be counted, in North Carolina, races that come down to less than a 1% margin—like this one—are eligible for a recount, so that voters can be confident that their voices are being accurately counted.
Meanwhile, in Texas, the race for the GOP’s nomination for the U.S. Senate was extremely close, with incumbent Senator John Cornyn receiving 41.9% of the primary vote and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton receiving 40.7%. Pursuant to Texas law, since neither candidate received at least 50% of the vote, the race will go to a runoff election on May 26. The Senate race may be receiving the most attention, however, several other races in Texas will also advance to a runoff, including the Democratic and Republican nominations for state Attorney General and more than 20 U.S. House races.
The tight margins and subsequent recounts and runoffs demonstrate the safeguards in place around our election processes. Even in races that come down to single digits, election administrators do everything they can to ensure all votes are counted and that the results are as accurate as possible. Ahead of what is likely to be a contentious midterm election, the primary elections provide reassurance that there are battle-tested safeguards in place to ensure that our elections are fair and accurate in Texas and elsewhere around the country.
PILLARS IN THE MEDIA
Earlier this month, Barb Cross, a member of the Pennsylvania chapter of Pillars of the Community, published an op-ed in Penn Live about recent calls to nationalize elections. A former U.S. Marine Corp lieutenant colonel and county commissioner, Barb writes about how Pennsylvania’s bipartisan, decentralized election process helps ensure the integrity of the democratic process. See below for an excerpt from Barb’s op-ed.
“Ironically, the decentralized structure of our commonwealth’s election system is its principal safeguard. Our 67 counties administer elections locally, supported by bipartisan boards and departments, professional staff, and thousands of trained poll workers dedicated to upholding the integrity of the democratic process. Dispersing this authority makes it extremely difficult for bad actors to manipulate outcomes statewide. It also ensures that those running elections are accountable to their fellow Pennsylvanians. Radically expanding the federal government’s role in the voting process, on the other hand, would remove authority from the officials who are intimately familiar with their communities and concentrate power in Washington. Nationalizing elections may sound efficient, but it is unconstitutional, creates new vulnerabilities, and turns the principles of federalism on their head.”
NEWS ON THE GROUND
Pillars of the Community is active in seven of the most pivotal and contentious election jurisdictions 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 Trump Administration has subpoenaed records from the Arizona State Senate related to its 2020 audit of Maricopa County, a move akin to the recent FBI raid on an elections office outside Atlanta seeking similar records tied to the 2020 election.
WISCONSIN: The bipartisan Democracy Defense Project leaders penned an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel expressing concern about any move to “nationalize” elections and displace the role of states in setting the rules for and running their voting systems.
MICHIGAN: Macomb County, Michigan has begun posting online images of every ballot cast along with corresponding vote records through a “Ballot Verifier” system, aiming to increase election transparency while maintaining voter anonymity.
GEORGIA: The Georgia State Senate voted down a bill that would have required hand-marked paper ballots for the 2026 midterm elections, after lawmakers warned the rapid switch could cause election “chaos,” leaving the state scrambling to find another way to comply with a law requiring the removal of QR codes from ballots this year.
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].