Anybody else so sick of the legal ping-pong on mail voting that you think your head might explode? For the third time, the Trump administration has now asked the Supreme Court to restrict mail voting in the midterms, despite the fact that proven cases of fraud account for just 0.000043 percent of all mail ballots. 

You know what’s actually distorting the legitimacy of our elections? The gusher of political spending that’s coming out of the pockets of America’s richest. Our top 10 current billionaire political donors, all by themselves, have already plowed more than $734 million into this year’s midterms. 

If our high court lets Team Trump limit mail voting, millions of low-income voters will be facing higher hurdles to exercising their most basic democratic right. In-person voting just happens to be a lot more difficult if you don’t have a car or if you’re tied down by an inflexible work schedule or caregiving responsibilities. 

Whatever the outcome of this continuing and confounding ping-pong match, the fight to unrig our political system and ensure democracy for all will continue.

Sarah Anderson
for the Institute for Policy Studies Inequality.org team

The Struggle To Expose Gross Wealth Inequality in Zimbabwe

This week’s frontline face: Ellaine Manyere, the Fight Inequality Alliance communications and mobilization officer for Zimbabwe.

What she's doing to help create a more equal world: Poverty remains endemic in Zimbabwe. At the same time, this African nation’s richest — totally oblivious to the plight of their compatriots — continue to exploit every opportunity to throw extravagant parties.

Manyere is helping grow a grassroots campaign to more equitably distribute resources across Zimbabwean society. She’s working to implement a national progressive tax system that could raise funds for dilapidated public services like schools and hospitals while reining in excessive wealth concentration.

What makes this fight so important: “Zimbabwe does not lack wealth,” Manyere recently wrote for Inequality.org. “It lacks fair distribution of that wealth, accountable governance, and policies that put public well-being over privilege.”

“Closing the gap requires bold and deliberate action,” she adds. “We Zimbabweans must demand progressive taxation so the wealthy pay their fair share.”

How Fair Will the 2026 Elections Be? As Fair as We Work To Make Them!

In the face of ongoing and escalating threats on the sanctity of this year’s elections from the Trump administration, protecting ballot access is going to take a lot of people. And those people need to be prepared for whatever is coming.

That’s why the May Day Strong coalition has been organizing solidarity schools — efforts to spread fair election know-how — all across the United States. This nonprofit coalition is hoping that strong advance preparation will put movements for social change in a good position to capitalize on 2026’s election opportunities. 

“We don’t know what the coming months will bring, including whether the Trump administration will respect the results of the midterm elections,” notes Neidi Dominguez from Organized Power in Numbers. “But we know we have to be more ready than we are right now.”

Corporate profits are booming, but workers are pocketing a shrinking share of our nation’s economic pie. U.S. pre-tax corporate profits reached an annualized $4.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, accounting for 18 percent of national income. Meanwhile, the employee share of national income from wages and benefits has fallen to 60 percent, its lowest level since the 1950s.

For an interactive version of this chart and more on income inequality, click the link to our Inequality.org Facts section below.

This week’s overpaid CEO: Tony Xu of DoorDash. 

How Xu is driving inequality: As one of three DoorDash co-founders who became billionaires after the company’s 2020 launch, Xu’s personal net worth now stands at $2.1 billion. The drivers who deliver DoorDash food orders average just $12.43 in hourly earnings, including tips.

Xu has remained silent as ICE agents have attacked DoorDash drivers, even after the fatal shooting of a Colombian man in Maine authorized to work in the United States. Another ICE agent is facing criminal charges after he fired through the door of a home in Minneapolis, wounding a DoorDash driver. 

Irresponsible ICE actions against DoorDash drivers have also proliferated in other cities. Yet a DoorDash spokesperson has told one media outlet that the firm had not even informed drivers of their constitutional rights if questioned or detained.

The last word: In the wake of the DoorDash driver killing in Maine, that state’s governor has called on Congress to reform or abolish ICE. Tony Xu, a billionaire off the backs of low-wage DoorDash labor, should support that demand. 

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