The 2026 midterms will also decide who runs elections in 29 states

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S.

Don’t tell the other cycles, but midterms are our favorite election years here at Votebeat. No other election is as decisive for who runs our democracy: This year, 24 states will directly elect their next top election official. Five more have chief election officials who are appointed by other offices on the ballot this year.

All told, in a little over a week, voters will decide who oversees elections in states worth 325 electoral votes. I choose that unit of measurement deliberately: These are the people who will run the 2028 presidential election, and the choices they will make matter. State election officials (usually, but not always, the secretary of state) issue rules that fill in t...