WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, More Perfect partners with Votebeat—the nation’s only nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated exclusively to covering how elections are run—to announce the launch of the Expert Desk.

As we head into the midterms, this free platform connects journalists nationwide with bipartisan  election experts, including former election officials, election attorneys, and technologists, who provide real-time, on-the-record guidance. Journalists will use the Desk to check claims, understand lawsuits, find credible sources, pressure-test tips, and get on-the-record quotes without waiting on callbacks or relying on loud voices with thin expertise.

With support from More Perfect and its partners, the Desk multiplies Votebeat’s impact far beyond its own coverage, equipping local and national outlets with resources to cover elections accurately. The Desk is expected to serve 600 journalists across 150 newsrooms nationwide. More than 100 experts will be available to answer questions and offer proactive tips. 

“Journalists across the U.S. will be equipped to cover elections and provide communities with credible, trusted information to make informed decisions about key issues, thanks to More Perfect’s generous support of our national coverage and the Expert Desk,” said  Elizabeth Green, Founder and CEO of Civic News Company. Journalists across the country can now turn to Votebeat for a free resource to help them through this demanding election cycle.

“A functioning democracy depends on voters having accurate information about how their elections are run,” said John Bridgeland, Founder and CEO of More Perfect. “More Perfect is proud to support Votebeat and the Expert Desk, which puts trusted, on-the-record expertise directly in the hands of journalists in communities. This is the kind of work our alliance came together to advance.”

“The Expert Desk is the backbone for better election coverage,” said Jessica Huseman, editorial director for Votebeat. “It gives journalists immediate access to trusted experts who can help them make sense of complicated election laws, procedures, and technology — whether they need a source, a gut check, or an answer to a technical question on deadline.”

Votebeat’s National bureau ensures that trustworthy information is available to communities through its coverage of federal voting policy, legal battles, and cross-state trends that connect local reporting to broader national developments. Votebeat’s work has prompted policy changes, influenced public debate, and shaped how elections are understood and administered. That same expertise also informs Votebeat’s Expert Desk, which extends beyond its own newsroom.

Interested reporters are invited to complete the application form. Journalists will be accepted if they are actively reporting on the 2026 elections, are not funded by or working for political candidates, campaigns or parties, and abide by the Expert Desk’s participation guidelines. Experts with relevant election experience can express interest in participating by completing this form. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Journalists will be able to participate until December 15, when the Desk closes.

About More Perfect
More Perfect is a bipartisan alliance of 44 Presidential Centers, National Archives Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and more than 100 organizations working together to advance five Democracy Goals: 1) Universal Civic Learning; 2) Expanding National Service and Volunteering; 3) Bridging Divides; 4) Trusted Elections and More Representative and Responsive Governance; and 5) Access to Trusted News and Information.

About Civic News Company and Votebeat
Civic News Company publishes Votebeat (Election Administration), Healthbeat (Public Health and Healthcare), and Chalkbeat (Education). Our publisher is one of the nation’s largest networks of nonprofit local newsrooms with 15 bureaus across 12 states. Votebeat is the only nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom in America focused exclusively on how elections are run. With embedded reporters in five states that will decide the balance of power in Washington (Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin), plus a National Desk and the Election Expert Desk, Votebeat watches the machinery of democracy year-round: voter rolls, mail ballots, county certification, election-office funding, and the laws that quietly determine who can vote and how easily.

For press inquiries, contact:
press@joinmoreperfect.us

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/votebeat-launches-expert-desk-with-support-from-more-perfect-302878059.html

SOURCE More Perfect

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, More Perfect partners with Votebeat—the nation’s only nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated exclusively to covering how elections are run—to announce the launch of the Expert Desk.

As we head into the midterms, this free platform connects journalists nationwide with bipartisan  election experts, including former election officials, election attorneys, and technologists, who provide real-time, on-the-record guidance. Journalists will use the Desk to check claims, understand lawsuits, find credible sources, pressure-test tips, and get on-the-record quotes without waiting on callbacks or relying on loud voices with thin expertise.

With support from More Perfect and its partners, the Desk multiplies Votebeat’s impact far beyond its own coverage, equipping local and national outlets with resources to cover elections accurately. The Desk is expected to serve 600 journalists across 150 newsrooms nationwide. More than 100 experts will be available to answer questions and offer proactive tips. 

“Journalists across the U.S. will be equipped to cover elections and provide communities with credible, trusted information to make informed decisions about key issues, thanks to More Perfect’s generous support of our national coverage and the Expert Desk,” said  Elizabeth Green, Founder and CEO of Civic News Company. Journalists across the country can now turn to Votebeat for a free resource to help them through this demanding election cycle.

“A functioning democracy depends on voters having accurate information about how their elections are run,” said John Bridgeland, Founder and CEO of More Perfect. “More Perfect is proud to support Votebeat and the Expert Desk, which puts trusted, on-the-record expertise directly in the hands of journalists in communities. This is the kind of work our alliance came together to advance.”

“The Expert Desk is the backbone for better election coverage,” said Jessica Huseman, editorial director for Votebeat. “It gives journalists immediate access to trusted experts who can help them make sense of complicated election laws, procedures, and technology — whether they need a source, a gut check, or an answer to a technical question on deadline.”

Votebeat’s National bureau ensures that trustworthy information is available to communities through its coverage of federal voting policy, legal battles, and cross-state trends that connect local reporting to broader national developments. Votebeat’s work has prompted policy changes, influenced public debate, and shaped how elections are understood and administered. That same expertise also informs Votebeat’s Expert Desk, which extends beyond its own newsroom.

Interested reporters are invited to complete the application form. Journalists will be accepted if they are actively reporting on the 2026 elections, are not funded by or working for political candidates, campaigns or parties, and abide by the Expert Desk’s participation guidelines. Experts with relevant election experience can express interest in participating by completing this form. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Journalists will be able to participate until December 15, when the Desk closes.

About More Perfect
More Perfect is a bipartisan alliance of 44 Presidential Centers, National Archives Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and more than 100 organizations working together to advance five Democracy Goals: 1) Universal Civic Learning; 2) Expanding National Service and Volunteering; 3) Bridging Divides; 4) Trusted Elections and More Representative and Responsive Governance; and 5) Access to Trusted News and Information.

About Civic News Company and Votebeat
Civic News Company publishes Votebeat (Election Administration), Healthbeat (Public Health and Healthcare), and Chalkbeat (Education). Our publisher is one of the nation’s largest networks of nonprofit local newsrooms with 15 bureaus across 12 states. Votebeat is the only nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom in America focused exclusively on how elections are run. With embedded reporters in five states that will decide the balance of power in Washington (Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin), plus a National Desk and the Election Expert Desk, Votebeat watches the machinery of democracy year-round: voter rolls, mail ballots, county certification, election-office funding, and the laws that quietly determine who can vote and how easily.

For press inquiries, contact:
press@joinmoreperfect.us

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/votebeat-launches-expert-desk-with-support-from-more-perfect-302878059.html

SOURCE More Perfect

An open-source AI governance and orchestration platform: one AI gateway, built-in EU AI Act compliance, and the option to run private LLMs entirely inside your own environment.

KRAKOW, Poland, Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Grape Up will present Aiboostr publicly for the first time at AGNTCon + MCPCon Europe in Amsterdam (17-18 September). Aiboostr is an open-source-based AI governance and orchestration platform. It routes every model and agent an organization runs through a single AI gateway – one control plane with the access controls, audit trail and EU AI Act compliance governance requires. Private LLMs can run entirely inside the customer’s own environment.

Enterprises have largely won the AI adoption battle; few built the governance to match. In IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, 68% of breached organizations had no governance in place to manage their AI, 92% of those hit by an AI-related breach lacked proper access controls, and AI-related breaches rose to 21% of all breaches, up from 13% a year earlier.

“Adoption was never the real risk, the governance gap behind it is,” said Roman Swoszowski, VP of Product Development at Grape Up. “Most teams can’t say which models and agents are in production, who’s using them, or what data passes through. A policy on paper doesn’t change that.”

A single AI gateway. Every model call, public or private, passes through one governed entry point, where access policies, rate limits, guardrails and a full audit trail apply per user, team and use case so governance becomes a property of how the AI runs, not a parallel system to maintain.

Private LLMs and AI sovereignty. Aiboostr also runs self-hosted, open-source models on the customer’s own infrastructure, a capability most SaaS-based governance tools don’t offer, so sensitive data never leaves the perimeter.

EU AI Act compliance, built in. A governed AI inventory, risk classification, log retention and continuous monitoring map to the AI Act, and the inventory stays current automatically because every call runs through the gateway. Compliance becomes a record of what happened, not a document assembled before a review.

Learn more at grapeup.com/aiboostr. 

About Grape Up
Grape Up is a technology consultancy and software development company helping enterprises build and run AI, cloud, and data platforms. Its product family includes Aiboostr, Cloudboostr, and Databoostr.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/grape-up-debuts-aiboostr-at-agntcon–mcpcon-europe-govern-every-model-and-agent—and-run-private-llms-from-one-control-plane-302877777.html