If you vote in Marin County, California, on Tuesday, November 3, child care will be printed right on your ballot. Measure P asks voters to approve a parcel tax of 5 cents per building square foot, which would raise about $12.5 million a year for fifteen years to fund affordable child care, early childhood education, and better pay for educators. In Boulder County, Colorado, voters will decide on an early care and education property tax that the county estimates at about $115 a year on a $725,000 home.

If your ballot doesn’t have a line like that, child care costs are still on it, because many of the people you’re choosing between will make decisions that change what your family pays for care and whether there’s an open spot near your home.

We’re not going to tell you who to vote for. We do think child care deserves a spot on your list of voting issues, right next to rent and groceries, and we’ll give you the numbers and the tools to make that easy.

Why child care costs are an election issue in 2026

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. According to Ballotpedia, 36 governor’s offices are up for election this year, along with 33 regularly scheduled U.S. Senate seats and two special Senate elections.

The cost picture is stark. A Redfin and Winnie analysis of the 100 most populous U.S. metros found that a typical working family buying a home would spend about 52% of its income on housing and full-time daycare for one child combined. In the Los Angeles metro that share is 96.8%, the highest in the country. In the New York metro it’s 95%. Marketplace named those two as the least affordable metros for working families with kids. (We’re a New York-based community, and 95% is a number we would love to see go down.)

Polls this year show concern about child care costs among voters in both parties. A national survey of 1,000 likely voters by Impact Research for the First Five Years Fund, conducted July 6 to 12, found that 82% of voters see child care costs as part of the affordability crisis, and 76% call the cost of care for families with young children a crisis or a major problem. Among parents who pay for child care, 38% named it as one of their two biggest cost concerns, behind housing (56%) and groceries (40%).

State polls look similar:

• Michigan: 77% of likely voters said child care is part of the affordability crisis, and 52% of working parents said child care challenges affect their own ability to work (Impact Research for FFYF, July 2026).
• Louisiana: 76% said child care costs are part of the affordability crisis, including 71% of Republicans, 83% of Independents, and 90% of Democrats. Among current parents, 51% said they are delaying starting or growing their families because of child care costs (UpONE Insights for FFYF and the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children).
• Nebraska: 73% called finding and affording quality child care a crisis or major problem, and 68% said a candidate’s plans for working families with young children will matter in the governor’s race (UpONE Insights for First Five Nebraska and FFYF).

For transparency: the First Five Years Fund is an early childhood advocacy group, and it commissioned or co-commissioned each of these polls. Read them with that in mind. Even so, majorities of voters in both parties named child care costs as a concern in the polls that broke results down that way.

Cost is only half of it. The Center for American Progress, a progressive policy institute, tracks child care deserts, meaning areas with three or more children age five and under for every licensed child care slot. As summarized by FFYF, 46% of young children lived in a child care desert in 2025, and in rural areas the share was over 70%.

To see how these costs add up for one household, our guide to running the child care math before going back to work walks through it line by line.

Which offices decide what you pay for child care

Many of the decisions that shape child care are made by offices below the top of the ticket.

Governor and state legislature. Federal child care assistance for families with low incomes flows through the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and states have real room to shape it. According to the Congressional Research Service, states set income limits for eligibility (often below the federal cap of 85% of state median income), decide payment rates for providers, set sliding-scale copayments for families, and write the licensing and health and safety rules that providers follow. State budgets also fund public pre-K. In 2025, 37% of 4-year-olds were enrolled in state-funded preschool, and six states (Idaho, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming) had no state preschool program that met the National Institute for Early Education Research definition, K-12 Dive reported.

Congress. The block grant is funded through annual appropriations, so your U.S. House and Senate members vote on how much federal money states get for child care assistance, according to the same CRS report.

School board. Districts can add pre-K classrooms. In September, the Clark County School District board in Nevada approved a $2 million plan to expand pre-K, including new classrooms. If your ballot is long, find the school board race and give it a few minutes of homework.

County and city. Local governments can put child care funding in front of voters directly, as Marin County and Boulder County did this year.

How to see exactly what’s on your ballot

Look up your sample ballot before Tuesday, including the local races near the bottom.

• VOTE411.org is run by the nonpartisan League of Women Voters Education Fund. Enter your address to see a personalized ballot, background and priorities provided by the candidates themselves, and your polling place. Many guides are available in English and Spanish.
• Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot Lookup covers federal and statewide races, ballot measures, and all races in the 100 most populated U.S. cities. It does not cover every local office.
• Your county or state election office publishes the official sample ballot, including the smallest local races.

Before you leave home, confirm your polling place and its hours on your state’s official election website. Early voting and mail ballot rules also vary by state, so check those there, too.

Questions to ask any candidate about child care

These work for anyone running, from governor to school board. Ask every candidate the same questions, at a forum or by email.

• What does full-time child care cost for a family in this district right now, and where did you get that number?
• Are there families on a waitlist for child care assistance here? What would you do about it?
• Who should qualify for help paying for child care, and how would you pay for any change?
• What would you do to keep early childhood educators in the field?
• For school board: Does our district offer pre-K or before- and after-school care, and are there plans to add seats?
• For county and city offices: Do our zoning or permit rules make it harder to open a child care center or home daycare?

Look for specifics in the answer and for how the candidate would pay for it. If you can, ask alongside a few other parents. It’s one more reason we believe in the undeniable power of community.

Bringing your kids to vote with you

In many places, your child can come into the booth with you. The election office in Franklin County, Georgia, says children under 18 may go into the voting booth with a parent, as long as they aren’t disruptive and don’t mark the ballot or operate the voting machine. Minnesota’s Secretary of State lists voters and their minor children among the people allowed inside a polling place, the Post Bulletin reported. A 2023 Texas House bill analysis noted that Texas law allows a child to go to the voting station with a parent.

The details vary by state, including age limits and how many children can come with you. Some states also ban photos inside the voting booth, Motherly notes, so check your state or county election office before taking a picture.

If you can, bring them. Before you go, pull up your sample ballot together and explain one race in plain words, like “this person helps decide how much money goes to preschools.” In line, let them hold your ID or your notes. Afterward, ask them which office they’d want to run for. (Pack a snack in case the line is long.) We think watching a parent vote is one of the best ways for a child to learn that their community belongs to them, too.

When is Election Day 2026?

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Early voting and mail ballot deadlines vary by state, so check your state’s official election website.

Can I bring my child into the voting booth?

In many states, yes, as long as your child doesn’t disrupt voting or mark your ballot. Rules on age, the number of children, and photos differ by state, so confirm with your local election office.

How do I find out what’s on my ballot?

Enter your address at VOTE411.org or Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot Lookup, or download the official sample ballot from your county election office for every local race.

Election rules are set by states and counties, so treat your local election office as the final word on anything in this guide.

If child care has felt like a private problem, handled one waitlist and one invoice at a time, Tuesday is a chance to treat it as a public one where you get a say. Look up your ballot tonight and ask one candidate one question before you vote. And if open enrollment is happening at your job, check out our guide to employee benefits parents shouldn’t ignore, including the Dependent Care FSA.

If you know a parent who just moved and isn’t sure where they vote, or one who has been on a daycare waitlist since the ultrasound, send this to them.

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