Chalkbeat expands its coverage to include voting at the local level

Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization that covers education at the local level, plans to expand its pop-up newsroom, called Votebeat, to cover voting at the local level through the 2022 midterm elections.

Why it matters: It's Chalkbeat's first real foray into a beat other than education.

Details: Votebeat launched in October 2020 as a three-month project covering local election integrity and voting access.

• Moving forward, Jessica Huseman, formerly of ProPublica’s ElectionLand, will serve as editorial director of the project.
• The project will cover everything from misinformation to legal battles around voting.

The big picture: The project becomes more important following last week's Capitol siege, as the country remains divided about the outcome of the 2020 election.