Elections Legal Toolkit

Last updated Oct. 12, 2026

Student journalists’ coverage of elections is more important than ever. 

Your coverage can help younger voters — who may be voting for the first time — understand the process, the candidates and what’s at stake. According to Tufts University, an estimated 8 million people are newly eligible to vote since the 2024 elections.

Like many other student journalists, you might also be among the only reporters covering local and state elections for your community. Millions of Americans may rely on student journalists’ coverage when making their decisions this November.

In case this is your first time covering an election, the Student Press Law Center has collected some resources to help prepare you for Election Day and everything that comes before and after.

Upcoming Virtual Event

Student Journalists’ Legal Guide to Covering Elections
1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

Learn about your access rights when it comes to covering elections, including campaign events, polling places, voter records, and more. Also, a primer on your rights and responsibilities when gathering news in high-stress situations, including the right to record, protest safety tips, and your legal rights when interacting with police.

Register

Story Ideas

  • A guide to voting for the first time:
    • How can students register to vote?
    • How can students find their polling place?
    • When are deadlines for mail in or absentee ballots?
    • What are voters’ options for mailing in ballots, dropping them off, early voting or voting on election day?
    • Where can students find a sample ballot?
  • What are the roadblocks to students voting in your area?
  • Cover the election events going on around campus.
  • Break down national, state and local candidates’ campaign platforms into a few bullet points — it’ll make it easier and digestible for students to choose who they’re voting for.
  • Consider whether your editorial board will endorse local candidates.

2026 Election Legal Guide (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) — This guide has resources for covering Election Day topics ranging from campaign events and newsgathering near polling places to access to ballot and election records. It also compiles important election information in key battleground states, such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. The Spanish version of the guide is available here.

Legal Hotline (Student Press Law Center) — Be sure to save SPLC’s Legal Hotline, where you can get answers to your legal questions directly from our staff attorneys. Available to any student journalist and the educators who work with them, our hotline is always free and confidential.

Get the Story & Stay Safe: Safety and Legal Tips for Journalists Covering Elections (UGA First Amendment Clinic) — Journalists covering elections are facing unparalleled threats to their physical and digital safety. This free webinar, presented by legal experts and a veteran journalist, offers in-the-field tips for exercising press freedoms and staying safe. Learn how to prepare ahead of time and what to do to protect yourself in the moment while reporting on elections.

Sample minor interview consent form (Student Press Law Center) — If you’re interviewing minors for your election coverage, you might want to get a signed release to protect yourself from claims of invasion of privacy or libel. SPLC’s sample form is meant to be a starting point for memorializing consent provided by a minor or a minor’s parent. 

Candidate Endorsements

Should Student Journalists Endorse Political Candidates? (Student Press Law Center) — The practice of candidate endorsement is frequently debated in newsrooms in recent years. This guide discusses the law and how some student media organizations have handled it in the past. We also discuss this in podcast form here.

College Newspaper Endorsements Likely Okay Under IRS Rules (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) — This piece discusses the legality of political endorsements by student media organizations.

Political Ads

Student Media Guide to Publishing Political Ads (Student Press Law Center) — Your news organization may be asked to run advertisements for political candidates. SPLC’s guide helps you ensure every ad placement is legal and ethical.

Safety at Protests & Elsewhere

Know Your Rights When Covering a Protest (Student Press Law Center) — Read it before you need it: In case protests or other high-stress situations occur this fall, understand your legal rights at these events and review the tips for staying safe. (We’ve also shared four steps student media organizations can take to be prepared.)

Covering Walkouts and Protests at School (Student Press Law Center) — Student journalists are faced with tough questions when it comes to covering protests on their own campuses. These FAQs are meant to help.

Journalist Safety Kit: Elections (Committee to Protect Journalists) — CPJ’s journalism safety kit helps newsrooms prepare for any incident that may occur while covering election-day events. The kit has guides to protecting both your physical and digital safety while reporting. 

Midterm Elections Safety Checklist (International Women’s Media Foundation) — A checklist for staying safe, with actions to take before and during your reporting.

Photos

Copyright-Safe Materials Available for Re-Publication in Student Media (Student Press Law Center) — Sometimes you can’t create your own images or music and need to find free versions online, so this guide walks you through the basics and provides a few starting points to find what you need.

Other Resources

Democracy, Governance and Elections Reporting Initiative (Center for Community News) — CCN helps connect college faculty who manage student reporting programs covering the elections. Their webpage includes several story assignment templates and other resources.

Free tools, big impact (Reynolds Journalism Institute) — These playbooks, tools and guides can help local journalists cover elections more effectively, fight disinformation and serve communities that are too often left out of the political coverage conversation.

Covering Elections and Voting 2024 (The Elections Group) — Authored by former NPR correspondent Pam Fessler, this guide offers “practical tips for engaging with election officials, understanding the rules of voting, and exploring the human elements of elections.” It also contains additional resources for covering elections, plus story ideas. 

Youth Voting and Elections (Center for Information & Research on Civil Learning and Engagement) — CIRCLE at Tufts University conducts research on how youth participate in elections including voter registration rates, their views on the candidates, and their involvement in the political process.

Sample language to explain elections and election coverage (Trusting News) — This document contains copy-and-paste language to help you and your newsroom respond to public perceptions during the 2024 election. This language can be added to stories as editor’s notes or shaded/pull-out boxes, go inside stories on-air, published in social posts, included in newsletters and more. The language can and should be edited to reflect your newsroom values.

Know other resources to add to this list? Email us at splc@splc.org.

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