--- title: How TIME Is Preparing for Election Day description: During one of the wildest presidential election campaigns in memory, the two candidates appear effectively tied in the battleground states. canonical: https://time.com/7096873/time-2024-election-coverage/ author: Sam Jacobs article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-10-24T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-10T22:51:59.675Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How TIME Is Preparing for Election Day og:description: Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs gives an overview of TIME’s ongoing coverage of the 2024 U.S. elections og:url: https://time.com/7096873/time-2024-election-coverage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07a005b5fcc02fa8/698a8a3ab21a9ca61c50f2e3/your-vote-is-safe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Ed Desk: Your Vote is Safe Cover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How TIME Is Preparing for Election Day twitter:description: Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs gives an overview of TIME’s ongoing coverage of the 2024 U.S. elections twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07a005b5fcc02fa8/698a8a3ab21a9ca61c50f2e3/your-vote-is-safe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How TIME Is Preparing for Election Day > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=bd32ed5b-a742-4020-893c-6ae58a7b958a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=bd32ed5b-a742-4020-893c-6ae58a7b958a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=bd32ed5b-a742-4020-893c-6ae58a7b958a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent.  by [Sam Jacobs](https://time.com/author/samuel-p-jacobs/)  ## Sam Jacobs Editor in Chief of TIME Oct 24, 2024 11:00 AM UTC  Illustration by Pablo Delcán and Danielle Del Plato for TIME  by [Sam Jacobs](https://time.com/author/samuel-p-jacobs/)  ## Sam Jacobs Editor in Chief of TIME Oct 24, 2024 11:00 AM UTC This is the last editor’s letter we plan to publish prior to Nov. 5, Election Day in the United States. If you have been feeling apprehensive, you are not alone. When asked recently, barely half of Americans said they were confident that their vote would be accurately counted. It is no wonder, given the rhetorical and physical attacks on our democracy these last few years, that many voters share the same fear. [For our new cover story](https://time.com/7096453/election-2024-security/), we asked Barton Gellman, a former TIME editor-at-large and Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter, for his answer to a simple question: Is your vote safe? Gellman, who today works at the [Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School](https://www.brennancenter.org/about/brennan-center-nyu-school-law), finds that though there are foreign and domestic actors who are trying to undermine the credibility of the vote in 2024, Americans can be confident that their ballots will be accurately counted and that the election will be free and fair. “\[The\] arc of the evidence, based on interviews with state, local, and federal election officials, intelligence analysts, and expert observers, bends toward confidence. Since 2020, the nation’s electoral apparatus has upgraded its equipment, tightened its procedures, improved its audits, and hardened its defenses against subversion by bad actors, foreign or domestic.…” he writes. “The system, according to everyone I asked, will hold up.” We publish this reporting in the spirit of the rest of our coverage of this campaign, aiming to provide trusted guidance so that you can better understand the candidates and the policies they would implement. Last month, we launched [TIME Votes](https://time.com/tag/time-votes/), our initiative dedicated to giving readers service-oriented stories that provide context for this election cycle as well as accessible, non-partisan resources for voters. In the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more of that information with readers wherever they find TIME today. We hope this effort is useful to you as you prepare to vote. We also have worked to lift up those who are making the U.S. election safe and reliable, launching our [Democracy Defenders](https://time.com/collection/democracy-defenders/) series. --- **This has been one of the wildest election campaigns in history.** A look back at TIME’s cover stories from 2024 shows the path that has taken us to this point. In March, President Joe Biden was [stuck in his tracks ](https://time.com/6958784/biden-campaign-strategy-problems-2024/)with more than 30 pollsters, strategists, and campaign veterans telling TIME they believed Biden would lose. In April and June, we offered two companion interviews, the latter with [Biden at the White House](https://time.com/6984970/joe-biden-2024-interview/), the former with [Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago,](https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/) asking each to explain what the world would look like if they were elected. This summer witnessed Biden [freezing at the debate](https://time.com/6993760/joe-biden-debate-disaster-democratic-panic/), Trump surviving an[ assassination attempt](https://time.com/6998896/behind-the-cover-interview-evan-vucci-trump-photorgraph/) at a rally, and then Biden’s eventual decision to step aside from the campaign, leading to [Kamala Harris’ moment](https://time.com/7009317/reintroduction-of-kamala-harris/). The Vice President locked up her party’s nomination with a speed and force few predicted. This fall, we watched Harris outperform Trump at [their only debate](https://time.com/7019747/harris-trump-debate-cover/)—a moment that Democrats now fear could have been the apex of her campaign—and the emergence of J.D. Vance as the [face of the New Right](https://time.com/7024414/jd-vance-2024-interview/). Still, despite all this tumult, if the polling is accurate, the fundamental dynamics of the race appear to have stayed remarkably static, with Harris and Trump effectively tied in the battleground states that will likely decide the election. Covering all of this has been our indefatigable team of experienced reporters and editors in Washington, D.C.; New York City; and around the world. We are in their debt and are privileged to report on this election for you. [Here’s to a safe and secure vote](https://time.com/7019433/how-to-get-people-to-vote/), and to our grand exercise in democracy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7096873/time-2024-election-coverage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7096873/time-2024-election-coverage/"},"headline":"How TIME Is Preparing for Election Day","datePublished":"2024-10-24T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-10T22:51:59.675Z","description":"During one of the wildest presidential election campaigns in memory, the two candidates appear effectively tied in the battleground states.","url":"https://time.com/7096873/time-2024-election-coverage/","keywords":["2024 Elections","Cover Story","freelance","feature","uspoliticspolicy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07a005b5fcc02fa8/698a8a3ab21a9ca61c50f2e3/your-vote-is-safe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Jacobs","jobTitle":"Editor in Chief of TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/samuel-p-jacobs/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07a005b5fcc02fa8/698a8a3ab21a9ca61c50f2e3/your-vote-is-safe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ed Desk: Your Vote is Safe Cover","caption":"","creditText":"Illustration by Pablo Delcán and Danielle Del Plato for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2024-election/","name":"2024 Elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7096873/time-2024-election-coverage/","name":"How TIME Is Preparing for Election Day"}}]}] ```