Working Together to Get More People to Vote

This op-ed was first published by Capitol Weekly on February 17, 2026.

An op-ed by Jack Mahoney, Jessica Hubbard, Raúl Macías and highlights how community-led outreach is increasing voter participation.

Local election officials across the U.S. are facing a range of challenges as they look ahead to this year’s elections – and 2028 as well. Among the biggest: how to serve a rapidly diversifying electorate, and how to combat distrust fueled by an avalanche of misinformation.

Fortunately, a program piloted in the past two years by charitable foundations in two California counties delivered some answers. As representatives of the foundations that supported this work, we’re sharing what we learned in the hope that more counties and foundations will launch similar efforts in 2026 and beyond.

Over the past decade, voting in California has undergone a sea change. Today, nearly eight in 10 of the state’s eligible voters live in counties that adopted the provisions of the California Voter’s Choice Act (VCA), which passed in 2016. As a result, these counties are providing vote-by-mail ballots to all voters and replacing traditional neighborhood polling places open only on Election Day with a considerably smaller number of vote centers where voters can cast a ballot well beforehand.

Read the rest of the op-ed for key lessons counties and funders can apply in their own communities in the link below.