September 2026 EVENTS

 NPR reports that the Trump administration has made last-minute changes to key absentee-voting forms for U.S. citizens living abroad, raising concerns about confusing some overseas voters during this year's midterm elections.

The revisions to two forms came in late August from the Pentagon. The department runs the voting assistance program that provides forms allowing eligible overseas citizens, plus U.S. military members and their families, to register for and participate in federal elections.

Weeks before a Sept. 19 deadline for states to send those voters midterm ballots, the Pentagon submitted "emergency" requests to bypass the usual months-long process for changing federal forms.

Among the changes was removing a checkbox for an overseas U.S. citizen to identify as having "never lived in the United States."

Many states and Washington, D.C., allow what are often referred to as "never-resided" citizens to vote if they have a relative who last lived in that state or territory before leaving the U.S., including a parent or legal guardian serving in the military.

Since 2024, however, Republican officials have been pushing to block these U.S. citizens from voting.

On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee filed a federal lawsuit against the Pentagon in an attempt to block the revised forms. The DNC argues the Trump administration's changes were "arbitrary and capricious" and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

For now, eligible never-resided voters can continue to register and request ballots through any alternative ways provided by the state or territory where they are eligible to vote.

And the Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) says state election officials can keep processing previous versions of its forms. 

The Pentagon emphasized in a statement that the forms were changed to "eliminate voter confusion."

But Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation, an advocacy organization for overseas voters, says she expects the opposite to happen.

"I definitely believe that the new version of the form will create far more confusion than we ever encountered with any previous version," Dzieduszycka-Suinat says. "The law hasn't changed. States still run this program the way Congress wrote it. However, the fact that it's being presented differently at the federal level within this 90-day window [before Election Day] — it doesn't give the states time to implement it, to train their people, to inform voters, to change instructions or any of it."

Dzieduszycka-Suinat notes these last-minute changes to the forms come shortly after the Republican National Committee ramped up its legal fight this year against state laws that allow never-resided citizens to vote, including in Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia.

NPR reports that the U.S. is in the midst of the worst measles resurgence in decades. Recent outbreaks in several states and exposures in places like bars, sports stadiums and on public transit have some people questioning the safety of travel or how they should prepare for upcoming plans.

As diseases loom, CDC's response to measles deaths stirs fears about agency's reliability

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists over 3,600 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. as of Sept. 24 — and two deaths as of Sept. 28. Almost all of those cases have been among unvaccinated individuals.

It's important to note that the Pennsylvania Department of Health has counted four measles-associated deaths so far. The CDC has disputed whether measles actually caused those deaths.

In the last two weeks, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York have had the most cases.

The true number of cases across the country is likely higher, according to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

"I think if anything, we're underestimating how many people are actually being exposed, and how many people are being infected, and how many people are being hospitalized and dying," he said.

He said that's because many children, parents or adults may not seek medical care if they get infected.

Dr. Kalyani McCullough, who leads the Vaccine Preventable Disease Epidemiology & Control Section of the Immunizations Branch of the California Department of Public Health, said it's important for people to know that measles is not "just a fever and a rash."

The disease is highly contagious. It spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or breathes. And you don't have to come in direct contact with someone who has measles to get infected; you just have to be within their airspace within two hours of them being there.

Offit said one person with measles can infect about 15 to 18 other people, if they're susceptible. Offit says "susceptible," in this case, means people who've either never had measles, or who are unvaccinated.

For people in that category, up to 9 out of every 10 exposed will get measles.

Measles can be difficult for epidemiologists to track because symptoms — like a fever, cough and rash — usually begin seven to 14 days after a person is exposed or as late as 21 days later.

All the experts who spoke to NPR said the first and most effective step to protect yourself against measles is to make sure you're fully vaccinated.

That means having had two doses of the MMR vaccine — commonly done in childhood. 

Offit said this recommendation holds for travelers coming into the U.S. from other countries as well.

At a gathering at U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told hundreds of junior military officers and enlisted leaders that the Trump administration has achieved a cultural shift in the military.

No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors," Hegseth said on Wednesday. "The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top."

In his speech, Hegseth defended his policies and claimed that retention and recruitment, including among women and minorities, has risen. He called the new force "color-blind" and merit-based. Hegseth took considerable time to rail against the media for reporting on troop morale and depleted munitions stocks in the war with Iran.

"A free press is, of course, important, but partisan activism that intentionally smears the troops and the historic mission that they're undertaking is fundamentally anti-American. It's sick. It's a national betrayal. It's treason, actually," he said.

Hegseth also pledged to elevate the military's chaplains and called religious faith the most essential component of our republic.

This week Hegseth also announced an end to civilian tenured positions at U.S. military academies, which a Pentagon press release said would "reform our educational institutions to ensure they remain laser-focused on lethality and readiness."