Votebeat’s Expert Desk is a running help line for election coverage: a free Slack workspace where journalists can ask vetted experts questions, see what other reporters are asking, use on-the-record answers, and spot patterns across the country.

Reporters use the Expert Desk to check claims, understand lawsuits, find sources, pressure-test tips, and get quotes — without waiting on callbacks or relying on loud voices with thin expertise.

In 2024 it served hundreds of journalists — from student reporters in Yakima, Washington, to voting reporters at The New York Times and NPR — with help from nearly 100 experts. A peer-reviewed University of Washington study found the Expert Desk gave journalists faster access to trusted expertise; Pam Fessler, the longtime NPR elections journalist, told researchers: “I have never seen a resource like this on any story I ever covered.”

We’re doing it again for 2026 — bigger, better, and more streamlined.

What can you ask? Anything related to voting. Real examples:

• Is this lawsuit a real threat to election administration, or mostly political theater?
• What records would show whether this election office followed its own procedures?
• Who can help me pressure-test a tip before I spend days chasing it?
• Is this alleged irregularity actually unusual — and what data would prove it?
• What does the election code say, and how has it been interpreted in practice?

Who is it for? Journalists covering the 2026 elections in any newsroom: local, state, national, nonprofit, commercial, public media, student media, or freelance. It is especially useful for reporters covering elections on top of another beat, editors working with newer reporters, and newsrooms without a full-time elections specialist.

The rules are simple: Be transparent. Be collegial. Don’t treat the Expert Desk as a place for exclusives. The goal is not competition. The goal is better election coverage.

The Expert Desk will launch Sept. 15. Questions in the meantime? Email Jessica: [email protected].