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A roundup of regional headlines from the KBIA Newsroom.

High Turnout Wide Margins recently traveled to the 40th annual Election Center conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, and spoke with election administrations and officials from across the county about how they do the work of elections in their communities.In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Chris McGinn. For the past year and a half, he’s been working as the executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials [TACEO]They spoke about some of the changes McGinn is helping make to the association, how the association balances the needs of some of the largest and smallest counties in the country, and about what’s next.

High Turnout Wide Margins recently traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the 2025 summer convening of the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions [PLEJ], and spoke with election officials from across the county — and world -- about the elections work they are doing in their communities.In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Brian Kruse. He’s the Douglas County Election Commissioner based in Omaha, Nebraska. They spoke about how elections work in Nebraska, as well as the unique way Nebraska ensures there’s enough poll workers — by drafting them.Kruse has announced that he will step down from his current position in January 2026.

High Turnout Wide Margins recently traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the 2025 summer convening of the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions [PLEJ], and spoke with election officials from across the county — and world — about the elections work they are doing in their communities.In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Paul Lux, the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections, and Mark Earley, the Supervisor of Elections in Leon County.They spoke about how the lists of registered voters are already maintained in Florida, and about how the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act — a proposed piece of federal legislation that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections — could impact that process.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Ben Ginsberg and Bob Bauer. These two longtime and respected election experts launched a national effort called Pillars of the Community in 2024. This program aims to educate and answer questions from trusted community members who can then assist in the fight against election dis- and misinformation.You can find out more about the program, as well as access community engagement tools for election administrators, at https://pillarsofthecommunity.org/.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Michelle Kavanaugh, the Bernalillo County Clerk in New Mexico.They spoke about some of the recent changes to New Mexican election law, which include automatic voter registration at the Motor Vehicle Division, semi-open primaries and the restoration of voting rights to citizens after incarceration — regardless of felony status.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Bill Gates. He’s the director of Arizona State University Mechanics of Democracy Lab, as well as the former chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona.They spoke about AI in elections — Both how generative AI tools could be responsibly used in election offices and how election officials might combat bad actors spreading mis- and disinformation through AI deep fakes.You can learn more about the Mechanics of Democracy Lab at https://modl.spa.asu.edu/

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Christopher Mann, the Research Director at the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and Stuart Holmes, the Director of Elections for Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.They spoke about the centralized system for responding to public records requests that Washington state implemented in 2023, as well as how the system is helping combat misinformation and is returning some time to local election administrators who continue to receive an increased number of public records requests.

Back in September, the High Turnout Wide Margins team traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the 2025 Summer Convening of the Partnership for Large Jurisdictions, or PLEJ.While there, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon had the opportunity to speak with election administrators from across the county and world. They also had the opportunity to take the stage for a special live taping with Carolina Lopez, the executive director of PLEJ.They spoke about the history of PLEJ, as well as how it has grown and benefited election administrators across the county. They also brought several members on stage — Zach Manifold of Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Kurt Bahr of St. Charles County, Missouri — to share how PLEJ has supported them in their work and how they have given back to the organization.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Kathy Boockvar. She’s the former Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2019- 2021 and a member of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, which works to protect election officials from physical threats, violence, and intimidation through coordination with law enforcement.They spoke about some of her own experiences working with law enforcement for protection during her time as Pennsylvania Secretary of state, as well as about how local election officials can start working now to ensure the physical safety of their staff and their office during the 2024 election cycle.