With concerns over the security of ballot drop boxes, BPC's Matthew Weil eases fears, saying that they are a safe and secure method to cast your ballot this fall. And with tensions high in Congress, Bill Hoagland believes that we may not see a new stimulus package until 2021. Finally, BPC's Task Force on Higher Education Financing and Student Outcomes took a deep dive into student loan debt and its role in the upcoming election.

Michigan, which witnessed a surge of mail-in ballots this election year, has held in line with BPC’s mid-May projection that more than 50% of votes would be cast by mail. The city of Detroit tackled the inevitable challenges by more than tripling the number of satellite offices and adding respective security measures, front-loading the application process through “dual applications,” and implementing an extensive voter education campaign to ensure the safety and efficiency of voting this year.

Short of a crucial second round of federal support, states are rapidly depleting their child care funding. An updated version of BPC’s 50 state map––which tracks how states are responding to diminishing resources to support working parents, child care providers, and young children––outlined the consequences of a lack of further federal relief.

The already difficult-to-navigate temporary and employment-based visa system in the United States is further complicated when looking at the distribution of visa sponsorship costs. Simplifying and streamlining that cost can aid not just small businesses and startups, but foreign workers as well, offering them more mobility and independence.