Politics and views in the United States.

State legislators chip away at early voting laws, the North Carolina Supreme Court election saga continues, and universal private school voucher programs expand nationwide, putting public school funding at risk.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

If it was up to me, election day would be election day.

There wouldn't be early voting.

Mail-in ballots would only be for military or severely disabled.

Kansas State Representative Pat Proctor says he wants to chip away at early voting.

The Republican chair of the House Elections Committee says he also plans to ram through legislation eliminating a three-day grace period for mail-in ballots that arrive after election day.

More than 2,000 ballots arrived during the grace period in last year's election.

Republican lawmakers in Arizona have passed bills to eliminate in-person early voting and ban countywide voting centers.

They say the changes will mean faster results on election night.

But Democratic State Representative Oscar De Los Santos says the goal is to make it harder for people who don't want to mail their ballots in.

News breaks oftentimes close to election day and you have hundreds of thousands of voters who like to keep their ballot and not fill it out very early so they can really take the time to research the candidates and the issues that are on the ballot.

Meanwhile, Mississippi lawmakers have approved a two-week in-person early voting period.

The state is one of only three without an in-person early voting option.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order extending control over independent regulatory bodies.

Agencies, including the FCC and Securities and Exchange Commission, must now seek presidential approval for new regulations and accept White House interpretations of law.

Trump also wants to hire and fire commissioners at will.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump from firing the chair of the U.S.

Merit Systems Protection Board, which protects federal whistleblowers.

The North Carolina Board of Elections is asking the state Supreme Court to fast-track a candidate's election challenge.

President Jefferson Griffin aims to overturn his loss by invalidating 60,000 legally cast ballots.

Multiple recounts and audits have confirmed he lost by about 700 votes.

Ann Webb with Common Cause North Carolina says a ruling in his favor would undermine democracy.

It would destroy the foundations of our elections and open the door to more sore loser candidates like Griffin trying to change election rules after the fact, cancel ballots and ignore the will of North Carolina voters.

Tennessee is the latest state to create a school voucher program letting all students use tax money to pay for private school tuition.

Liv Cook with Public School Strong TN says despite what she calls skewed polls showing its popularity, people don't want it and would rather the funding stay in public education.

The majority of students in Tennessee attend public schools and the majority of families are supportive of public schools and want to see them well resourced.

Voters say vouchers give families a choice in how their children are educated, but data show the majority of voucher recipients already attend private schools.

I'm Katherine Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.