The Issue Brief

Will Adler, research director of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Elections Project, explains how mail ballots are verified and counted, what the Supreme Court's Watson ruling and the Postal Service's ballot mail rule mean, and what voters should know about Election Day.

In two weeks, Americans will vote in the midterm elections, and every state offers some form of mail voting. In 2024, about 103,000 mail ballots were rejected for arriving late, the single largest reason mail ballots are thrown out, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center analysis of federal data. This summer, the Supreme Court ruled that states can decide whether to count ballots that arrive after Election Day, and the Postal Service finalized a ballot mail rule it says it will not enforce this November.

Mike and Will discuss what mail voting is and how it has grown, how ballots are verified before they are counted, and how ballot tracking and curing help voters fix problems. They also cover why official drop boxes are considered secure, why election night results may not include every mail ballot, how post-election audits work, and what the Supreme Court decided in Watson v. RNC. Will explains the Postal Service's ballot mail rule and BPC's concerns about it, why lead time matters when election rules change, and how the election workforce is holding up. He also offers practical advice for voters with a ballot in hand and what staffers should know before their next hearing.

About the guest: Will Adler is research director of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Elections Project. Before joining BPC, he led elections policy work at the Center for Democracy & Technology and worked on technology issues in the U.S. Senate. He previously worked as a researcher at Princeton University on redistricting reform and open election data.

Further Reading:

• Mail Voting is Safe and Secure
• Drop Boxes are Trusted Ballot Return Options
• What Could the Supreme Court's Decision in Watson v. RNC Mean for Mail Voting?
• BPC Public Comment on USPS Proposed Rule on Ballot Mail for Federal Elections (2026-10968)
• Behind the Curtain of Post-Election Canvassing, Audits, and Certification
• Prioritizing Achievable Federal Election Reform
• Election Official Turnover Rates through the 2024 Election
• Federal Register: Ballot Mail for Federal Elections (final rule)
• USPS Election Mail

Credits: Host: Michael Kelley, Senior Director, BPC Action Producer: Chad Kolton Editor: Tiffany Rocque

Jason Fichtner, executive director of LIMRA's Retirement Income Institute, explains how Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment is set and what a 3.5% increase means for retirees and the program.

Later this month, more than 71 million Americans will learn how much their Social Security benefits will rise in 2027. Experts expect a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, of around 3.5%, the largest in three years. But the program's main trust fund is projected to run out in 2032, and a 2025 Bipartisan Policy Center-Public First poll found 71% of Americans worry they haven't saved enough to retire comfortably.

Mike and Jason discuss how the annual COLA is calculated, why the announcement comes in October, which inflation measure the Social Security Administration uses and why, and how alternatives such as chained CPI and CPI-E would change benefits and the program's finances. Jason also addresses the COLA's impact on long-term solvency and what staffers should know before their next hearing.

About the guest: Jason Fichtner is executive director of LIMRA's Retirement Income Institute. He is a former chief economist at BPC and a former acting deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

Credits

Host: Michael Kelley, Senior Director, BPC Action

Producer: Chad Kolton

Editor: Tiffany Rocque

The Issue Brief is a new weekly podcast from the Bipartisan Policy Center and Bipartisan Policy Center Action. Host Michael Kelley takes one issue moving through Congress or in the news and breaks it down in 20 minutes or less: what's happening, why it matters, and what comes next. Our first episode, with Jason Fichtner of LIMRA's Retirement Income Institute, arrives October 12. Follow now so it lands in your feed.