Five days before the midterms, the Trump administration is trying to make thousands of Californians’ ballots wait while the government decides whether their owners belong in the electorate. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected its request to set aside mail ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters it alleges are likely noncitizens. The government would like the public to have confidence in the election, provided it can first put a portion of the electorate in the waiting room.
That matters well beyond California. Voting is how people get a say in the decisions that reach their kitchens, paychecks, and doctors’ offices. Today’s economic figures show a growing economy alongside rising inflation, while families approach another expensive year of buying health insurance. If officials want credit for national prosperity, the people trying to afford a life inside it should get to deliver their performance review.
Here on the Homefront, spirit week is nearly over. Yesterday was pink day, and today was beach day, which required a small logistical miracle involving a Hawaiian shirt. When we ordered the children’s things last week, our oldest made it clear that he would not, under any circumstances, be wearing one. This position remained firm until roughly thirty minutes past bedtime last night, when he called to explain how urgently he needed a Hawaiian shirt right now. Apparently the circumstances had arrived. Luckily, my older brother came to the rescue and promptly delivered one. Someday I will teach this child the ways of planning ahead, just as soon as I have acquired the relevant qualifications myself.
My daughter then crawled into bed with us during the night and settled directly on top of my phone, home to the eight morning alarms I employ to ensure that I become a functioning person on schedule. She successfully muffled the entire department. I woke up at 7:30, which was also the time I was supposed to arrive at my bonus son’s mom’s house with the rescued Hawaiian shirt and the other beach day requirements. My daughter and I hustled, we made it happen, and we got the photo. I consider this a successful operation, although I would prefer nobody audit the timeline.
Tomorrow is her Halloween costume day and class party, which I am attending. What she doesn’t know yet is that her baby brother and I will be arriving at her school party in our costumes. I can’t wait to see her face. After considering Elsa and the princesses, she decided that she and I would both be Glinda the Good Witch. I suggested that perhaps one of us could be Dorothy, since we already have a little lion baby and an older brother playing the Wizard, but she was unmoved. We shall have two Glindas, and Oz will need to adjust its staffing expectations.
Her older brother insisted that being the Wizard required a staff. I don’t have the heart to explain that this particular Wizard doesn’t use one, so a staff he shall have. I am nearly finished hand carving it from a branch cut right here at our house, complete with a giant stone I am wiring into place by hand. Once Halloween is over, I will display it proudly. We may have taken liberties with the source material, but the craftsmanship is sincere.
We also have two very special guests coming today, people who were among the most important parts of saving our little patch of earth. We can’t wait to see them. It’s a busy couple of days, but it’s full of love, and I’m trying to remember that the scrambling is often in service of something rather wonderful.
Back in California, the administration describes its effort as protecting citizens’ votes from being diluted by noncitizen voting. Preventing illegal voting is a legitimate responsibility. It also requires reliable evidence and lawful procedures, particularly when the proposed remedy reaches people who are already registered and an election already in progress.
Carter’s order pointed to a particularly instructive episode in Nevada: the government’s initial claim of as many as 15,903 registered noncitizens shrank to 6,218, then to 185. According to the judge, Nevada checked the final 185 and found that every one was a citizen. A list that gets smaller every time someone examines it deserves considerably more scrutiny before it becomes a reason to interfere with someone’s ballot.
The judge also found that the California request would likely violate federal protections against systematic voter removals close to an election. The Justice Department says it will appeal. This ruling is a barrier against a particular intervention, and keeping that barrier in place will still require people doing their jobs. The hopeful part is that someone did: the administration asked for extraordinary control over an ongoing election, and a judge required it to answer to the law.
Meanwhile, the economy has supplied a useful reminder that a country can become wealthier without every household feeling more secure. Today’s preliminary federal estimate puts third-quarter growth at a 3.4 percent annualized rate, up from 2.2 percent in the previous quarter. That is a measure of national production, rather than a notice that everyone’s checking account has been credited accordingly. I would welcome the latter, but my bank continues to insist on its own figures.
September’s inflation report is less celebratory. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 3.6 percent over the year, up from 3.4 percent in August. Consumer spending increased 0.5 percent during September in dollar terms, but was unchanged after adjusting for inflation. Spending more while getting no increase in the amount purchased is a familiar household experience, and it deserves a place beside the growth headline.
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate steady yesterday, with another increase still possible. Families are left facing the combination of elevated prices and expensive borrowing. A strong economy should give us room to ask who is benefiting and what would help the people still struggling, rather than serve as an instruction for those people to stop noticing their bills.
On Tuesday we spent time on the distance between having health insurance and getting care. The approaching 2027 premiums add another obstacle before anyone even reaches the appointment. KFF’s nationwide analysis of insurer filings found a median proposed increase of 15 percent. Those proposals are for premiums before subsidies, and an individual’s payment will depend on their plan and assistance.
Here in Oregon, regulators approved an average 21.6 percent increase in individual market premiums for 2027 back in August. The state is budgeting an additional $15 million for reinsurance to help contain costs. Its rate announcement cited medical expenses and the loss of enhanced federal ACA subsidies among the pressures on the market. Even efforts to hold increases down are leaving people with a substantial climb.
These are decisions worth asking candidates about before November 3. What will they do to make coverage affordable? How will they protect eligible voters from being wrongly challenged? What, specifically, will they do for people whose experience of a growing economy is that the same money buys less? A campaign should be able to answer those questions without requiring us to applaud a chart first.
I keep coming back to the ordinary things people are trying to protect: a child’s school party, a patch of earth, enough room in the budget to get help when someone is sick. There should be space in a life for the ridiculous late-night shirt emergency without every larger system adding an emergency of its own. Public officials work for the people living those lives, including the ones whose ballots they would prefer to set aside.
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Take care of yourselves today. I will be finishing a wizard’s staff and preparing for a peaceful transfer of power to two Glindas.
I can’t wait for the day when you can focus an entire essay on your family and not spare much mind for the government. Your perspective and just *how* you write about your family always brings joy to my heart. Your perspective on the challenges voters are facing is direct and spot on - but I hope we all don’t have to focus on that so much going forward. Thank you for your writing.