U.S. News Briefing: Ballots, Campaign Ads and Campus Safety

Good morning. It’s early Thursday, October 15. With the midterm election approaching, today’s briefing starts with two very different stories about ballots: a federal demand in California, and a record first day of early voting in Georgia. Then we’ll turn to a Supreme Court order about campaign advertising, and a major change to fraternity life at Cornell. These are developments reported through Wednesday—not a prediction of what Thursday will bring.

First, California. The Justice Department has given state and Los Angeles County election officials 48 hours to review a federal list of people it believes may be noncitizens who were sent mail ballots. In letters sent Tuesday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter asked officials to check whether any citizens are on the list. For people whose citizenship cannot be independently confirmed, he asked officials to set their ballots aside—not cancel them—while their status is determined. He also asked that ballots not yet mailed to people on the list be withheld pending verification, and that returned ballots not be counted until verification is complete. The department warned it could seek emergency court relief if California cannot carry out its requests.

There is a crucial distinction here: a name on a federal list of *potential* noncitizens is not proof that someone is ineligible to vote. The Justice Department told the Los Angeles Times that the list concerns thousands of voters but could not provide an exact number. Its position is that only citizens may vote in federal elections and that it is asking California to enforce that rule. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office sharply disputed both the demand and the reliability of the data, saying the state had not received the list directly and questioning how it could investigate and act within 48 hours. Los Angeles County elections chief Dean Logan said his office was reviewing the letter with state officials but had not opened the supplied thumb drive because it did not consider that a secure way to receive the information.

Why does the timing matter? California has already mailed ballots, and votes are being cast. Election-law experts interviewed by the Times raised concerns about mistakes and about legal restrictions on systematic voter-roll changes close to an election. Those are concerns about the demand, not a court ruling against it. As reported Wednesday, this was a request backed by a threat of litigation—not a finding that the voters on the list had broken the law.

Meanwhile, Georgia has a striking measure of election participation. The secretary of state’s office reported 188,667 in-person votes on Tuesday, October 13—the first day of early voting. That’s roughly 40 percent above the 134,962 cast on opening day of the 2022 midterms, and a record for a midterm opening day in the state. Another 10,267 absentee ballots had been accepted.

This is a turnout story, not a result. A busy first day cannot tell us which candidate will win or what final turnout will be. But it does show voters using the early-voting window in large numbers. One race drawing attention is the U.S. Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff and Republican Congressman Mike Collins. Georgia voters who want to take part can check their county’s locations and hours through the secretary of state’s My Voter Page rather than assume every polling place follows the same schedule.

The Supreme Court has also stepped into an election-season dispute—but this one concerns the price of television ads, not ballots. Candidates normally qualify for discounted advertising rates during the period before an election. The question in this case is whether an FCC decision extending those rates to party-coordinated ads and joint fundraising committees can stand.

On Wednesday, the justices set aside an order from a federal appeals court that would have required the FCC to decide a related internal dispute within 48 hours. The Supreme Court said that accelerated court intervention was inappropriate while the agency was still deliberating. The order puts the fast-moving court fight on hold pending an appeal and fuller consideration, a process that could run beyond the midterms. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated they would not have granted the stay, but did not write separate dissents.

For campaigns, the stakes are practical: advertising budgets and who can obtain a discounted rate. For viewers, the important caveat is procedural. The Court did not issue a final answer Wednesday on who is entitled to those rates. It stopped an appeals court from forcing an immediate FCC decision.

Away from the election, Cornell University is suspending parties and social events at Interfraternity Council houses for the rest of the academic year. President Michael Kotlikoff announced the measure Tuesday as the university responds to campus concerns surrounding an allegation of rape in 2024. Chi Phi, the fraternity associated with that allegation, has been banned since 2024. The allegation should not be mistaken for a finding of guilt.

Kotlikoff said a fraternity that violates the new event ban will face immediate emergency suspension. The university says the pause will allow it to review whether—and how—fraternity life can continue safely. It also plans to add advocates for people who report sexual assault, increase staffing in its civil rights office, and use trauma-informed New York State Police investigators for assault reports when survivors seek to press charges. Cornell says it will speed up recommendations from a campus sexual-assault task force as well.

That makes this more than a canceled-party announcement. The immediate restriction is one part of a wider response involving reporting, support and oversight. What the review ultimately means for fraternity life has not yet been decided.

Taken together, these stories are at four different stages. Georgia’s first-day votes have been counted as a turnout figure, but the election has not been decided. California has received a federal demand, but the flagged names have not been established as ineligible voters. The Supreme Court has paused a rapid decision, not settled the advertising question. And Cornell has imposed a restriction while its broader review continues. Those distinctions are worth keeping in mind as the next updates arrive. That’s the U.S. news briefing for early Thursday, October 15.