Christina A. Cassidy

A Senate report on Russian interference in U.S. elections highlights one of the biggest challenges to preventing foreign intrusions in American democracy: the limited powers and ability of the federal government to protect elections run by state and local officials. That has given fuel to those who argue for a larger federal role. The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday issued...

New York voters for years have experienced some of the longest wait times in the nation on Election Day. Attempts to fix the problem routinely became casualties of the divided politics of the state Legislature. That dynamic changed last November, when Democrats won majorities in both legislative chambers, and it didn’t take them long to act. Just weeks into this...

New York voters for years have experienced some of the longest wait times in the nation on Election Day. Attempts to fix the problem routinely became casualties of the divided politics of the state Legislature. That dynamic changed last November, when Democrats won majorities in both legislative chambers, and it didn’t take them long to act. Just weeks into this...

New York voters for years have experienced some of the longest wait times in the nation on Election Day. Attempts to fix the problem routinely became casualties of the divided politics of the state Legislature. That dynamic changed last November, when Democrats won majorities in both legislative chambers, and it didn’t take them long to act. Just weeks into this...

For more than two decades, Nancy Mace did not speak publicly about her rape. In April, when she finally broke her silence, she chose the most public of forums — before her colleagues in South Carolina’s legislature. A bill was being debated that would ban all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected; Mace, a Republican lawmaker, wanted to add...

Time and money are running short for states to replace aging or inadequate voting machines before the 2020 presidential primaries, according to a report released Tuesday. State and local election officials in 31 states say they want to replace their voting equipment before the elections, but the vast majority said they don’t have enough money to do so, according to...

An unprecedented federal and state collaboration to defend election systems against Russian interference ended with no obvious voting system compromises, although it’s not entirely clear why. Federal officials are wondering whether foreign agents are saving their ammunition for the 2020 presidential showdown or planning a late-stage misinformation campaign to claim Tuesday’s election had been tainted. It doesn’t change how vulnerable...

Voting machine glitches, long lines and misinformation were among the problems that voters faced at the polls on Tuesday. The cause of the problems ran the gamut from human error to threatened violence to technological errors to Mother Nature as storms pummeled several states in the South. The issues added more chaos to a bitterly fought election that will decide...

President Donald Trump and former president Barack Obama are making late-round appearances for candidates ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Trump will campaign in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, after riling up Republicans in Georgia and Tennessee on topics like the economy and immigration. Meanwhile, Obama is urging voters in Illinois and Indiana not to be distracted by false claims about migrants...

Nearly twice as many early or absentee ballots have been counted in the 2018 elections, already far outpacing the total from 2014, NBC News reported. More than 24 million votes were counted with six days to go before Election Day. At the same point in 2014, just shy of 13 million votes had been counted, signifying a shift among voters...

Drawing on her years of military experience, Maureen Heard was careful to follow all the rules when she filled out an absentee ballot for the 2016 election. She read the instructions thoroughly, signed where she was supposed to, put the ballot in its envelope and dropped it off at her county elections office in New Hampshire. She then left town...

Weeks before the 2016 election, federal officials started making mysterious calls to the head of elections in Inyo County, California. They asked her to contact them if she noticed anything unusual. But they wouldn’t elaborate. “I asked them: ‘How am I going to be able to protect against it if I don’t know what it is?'” said the official, Kammi...

Allegations of sexual misconduct against Kentucky lawmakers have become so common that the statehouse has seemed more like a frat house: Seven lawmakers have faced accusations, including four who settled secretly with a female legislative aide. Voters’ response? Mostly, keep them in office. Of the five lawmakers up for re-election this year, three easily made it through their party primaries...

The number of women running for the U.S. House of Representatives set a record Thursday, the vast majority of them Democrats motivated by angst over President Donald Trump and policies of the Republican-controlled Congress. Their ranks will continue to grow, with candidate filing deadlines still to come in more than half the states.

The Department of Homeland Security has notified two states that Russian hackers attempted to scan networks other than their election systems in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, contrary to details provided last week. On Wednesday, California became the second state — after Wisconsin — to receive the clarification. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement...

With the latest Republican health care overhaul teetering near collapse, one group in particular is watching with heightened anxiety. The debate in Congress is personal for many of those who gained coverage through Medicaid in the 31 states that expanded the program under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Alan Purser, who lives in eastern Arkansas, credits expanded Medicaid...

When President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, Republicans will have the opportunity to pull off something they have wanted to do for years — overhaul Medicaid, the program that provides health care to tens of millions of lower-income and disabled Americans. Any changes to the $500 billion-plus program hold enormous consequences not only for recipients but also for the...

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act and support gun rights during his speech to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 21, 2016.