July 24, 2026
Detroit Future City and the Citizens Research Council of Michigan have long produced research and analysis to support informed civic decision-making. Building on that work, the organizations developed a nonpartisan Detroit Issues Guide 2026 to help Detroit residents better understand how state and local government decisions affect the issues they care about most—including housing, public transit, public education, taxes and business attraction, and crime and public safety.
Designed to encourage informed civic engagement and support voter participation ahead of Michigan’s August Primary and November General Election, the guide provides factual context around each issue without endorsing positions, candidates, political parties, or ballot proposals. Each section explains why the issue matters, outlines current policy developments, describes how public policy shapes outcomes, and concludes with questions residents can consider as they prepare to vote.
In addition to issue overviews, the guide includes voter resources, important election dates, voter registration information, absentee and early voting guidance, and links to official election resources to help Detroiters prepare for upcoming elections.
By making public policy more accessible and connecting government decisions to everyday life, the Detroit Issues Guide 2026 offers Detroiters a nonpartisan resource for understanding key issues and policy topics during the 2026 election season.
This guide was developed in partnership with the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.
The Detroit Early Voting Challenge
This guide is part of a broader voter education effort led by the Detroit Early Voting Coalition, a collective of organizations dedicated to increasing civic engagement and voter literacy in Detroit. The coalition will also be launching Detroit’s Early Voting Challenge, a competition that encourages Detroiters to beat their neighborhoods to the polls during the in-person early voting period, on Saturday, July 25. Residents can visit early.onecivic.org to see how many people in each district have voted, find their district, earn where they can drop off their ballots and even where they can register to vote. This effort is led by CIVIC, in partnership with Detroit Future City, Citizen’s Research Council, All Voting is Local, Politics on the Go and the Detroit Department of Elections.
To learn more about Detroit’s Early Voting Challenge, click here.