National: Federal judge blocks Trump administration’s bid to restrict mail-in voting | George Chidi/The Guardian

The Trump administration’s plan to deny mail-in ballots to states that would not give their voter rolls to federal officials was blocked on Thursday morning by a federal judge in Boston. US district judge Indira ⁠Talwani ruled that the provisions of an executive order issued by Donald Trump on 31 March requiring the postal service to require the use of a barcode tracking system for ballot envelopes tied to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data was unconstitutional. It comes amid a broader drive by the president and his officials to reshape rules and regulations around voting ahead of November’s midterm elections. Trump is pushing Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would impose new ID requirements on voters and curtail mail-in voting. Voting rights groups, joined by 23 states and the District of Columbia, sued the administration to stop the proposed rule, arguing that the US constitution provides no authority for the president to issue orders governing the administration of elections. Read Article

National: Court rules SAVE database illegal, orders it dismantled | Derek B. Johnson/CyberScoop

A federal court ruled Monday that the Trump administration’s national voter database violates federal privacy laws, interferes with Americans’ right to vote, and must be dismantled. In the ruling, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the District Court of Washington D.C. wrote that records reviewed by the court show federal agencies knew that the SAVE voter database violated federal laws like the Privacy Act, the Social Security Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, but were “scrambling” to comply with President Trump’s executive order to create a system for mass voter verification. That pressure resulted in agencies “haphazardly” combining and repurposing the personal information of millions of Americans from different government databases, including citizenship data they knew was unreliable. Read Article

National: White House delays release of US voting machine study as midterms near | Erin Blanco, Phil Stewart and Jonathan Landay/Reuters

White House officials have for months delayed the release of a U.S. government report that outlines what it describes as significant vulnerabilities in the ​nation’s voting machines ahead of the November midterms, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The report, produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, concludes that voting ‌machines could be further safeguarded by, for example, updating their software, the sources said. It does not say the vulnerabilities have led to votes flipping, but examines security gaps in how the machines are used during U.S. elections. Some White House officials have argued the report could undermine voter confidence, particularly among Republicans. Others have said they do not believe the report goes far enough in supporting President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, the three sources said. Some Democrats said privately they ​worried Gabbard’s probe into voting machines would be used by the administration to push states to use paper ballots. Several court cases filed by Trump’s lawyers failed to prove voter fraud in the 2020 ​presidential race. Read Article

National: Federal judge bars Trump from proof of citizenship requirement to vote | Julie Carr Smyth and Michael Casey/Associated Press

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban. Casper rejected the Republican administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be put in place. Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers. Read Article

National: Trump admin plans to use DHS funds to force states election changes | Gabe Cohen and Tierney Sneed/CNN

The Trump administration is threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds from states unless they adopt a sweeping set of election changes, according to multiple sources and internal documents obtained by CNN. The move is part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to root out alleged voter fraud — despite studies showing it’s far rarer than he claims — and exert more federal influence over how elections are run. It comes as multiple states have passed laws that seek to prevent the federal government from interfering with elections. Under new rules governing several homeland security grant programs, states must take a number of steps, including phasing out certain electronic voting systems and moving to hand-marked paper ballots. They must also run their voter rolls through a controversial Department of Homeland Security citizenship verification database. Read Article

National: Democratic states scramble to prevent potential Trump administration interference in their elections | Fredreka Schouten/CNN

Democratic-led states are racing to safeguard November’s midterm elections against potential interference from the Trump administration and its allies, passing new laws that restrict the presence of law enforcement at polling places or seek to thwart the federal government’s efforts to obtain sensitive election material. Five states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington state — have recently enacted legislation to shield their elections from federal actions, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks election-related legislation, and CNN’s research. Sponsors say they are responding to President Donald Trump’s continued rhetoric about fraud in voting and the administration’s increasingly aggressive moves to reshape how voting is conducted. The US Constitution gives states the primary task of running elections and Congress the power to set the ground rules for federal contests. Read Article

National: The Election System Wasn’t Built for This | Yvonne Wingett Sanchez/The Atlantic

Not so long ago, the Republicans who ran elections in one of the nation’s most important battlegrounds—Maricopa County, Arizona—largely got along. There were egos and quibbles, sure. But in the face of unyielding attacks on elections led by President Trump, the recorder and board of supervisors—which together split election duties—resolved conflicts without blowing up a delicate system built on trust and cooperation. Today’s recorder and board, a mostly new cast chosen by voters in 2024, are different. They’re locked in an all-out war over the machinery, money, and operations that make the democratic process possible. Both sides agree that the standoff threatens their ability to carry out November’s midterm elections free of complications for the county’s 2.6 million voters, more than half the state’s total. The recorder’s side describes the situation in dire terms, writing to a judge that “the legal validity of the election results themselves” is at risk. The recorder’s critics fear that the fight could be used as pretext to cancel results MAGA doesn’t like in elections that could tip the balance in Congress. Read Article

Opinion: These 19 election deniers and vote suppressors are on the ballot in the midterms. We should be worried | Matt Cohen/Democracy Docket

From Maine down to Texas, and from North Carolina out to Arizona — hundreds of Republican election deniers and vote suppressors will be on the ballot this fall. Many are running for pivotal state-level roles like governor or secretary of state that wield enormous power to undermine a fair election. Others are running for seats in the U.S. House or Senate, from which they could help drive anti-voting policies that threaten to disenfranchise millions of voters. A tally by the pro-democracy group States United Action found that there are 132 election deniers across 35 states running for statewide or federal office this year. Read Article

Alaska legislators probe decision to remove candidate from the ballot | Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon

Members of the Alaska House Judiciary and State Affairs committees held an investigatory hearing on Monday about the state’s decision to remove a candidate from the U.S. Senate election with the same name as the incumbent — Dan Sullivan. The Division of Elections announced that Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, was not eligible to run for the U.S. Senate. It cited complaints from the incumbent and Republican groups when it decided his candidacy was not in “good faith,” and aimed at confusing voters with the incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. The division cited a state regulation that forbids the Division of Elections from listing a candidate’s name “in a manner that is confusing or misleading to voters or compromises the fairness or neutrality of the ballot.” But some lawmakers questioned the decision and the division’s authority to remove the challenger candidate. An attorney representing the Alaska Legislature issued a legal memo Wednesday saying the decision to disqualify the candidate was likely unlawful, since he did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s qualifications to run for office. Read Article

Arizona: Maricopa County power struggle over elections could undermine midterms | Ronald J. Hansen/Arizona Republic

The election-related power struggle in Maricopa County and President Donald Trump’s unproven claims of election fraud may undermine public confidence in — and lead to historic challenges to — Arizona’s November midterm contests, experts warn. The once sleepy subject of election administration has remained a pitched battle in the state’s most populous county, with simultaneous fighting over the ground rules for the July primary and renewed speculation over the flawed recount of its 2020 ballots. On June 18, just days before early ballots for the July 21 primary are sent to voters, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the county Board of Supervisors didn’t have to rush a complex division of its voter database with Recorder Justin Heap. In doing so, the court held that averting 11th-hour confusion for voters alone justified delaying a task first formalized in mid-April. Read Article

Arkansas: Supreme Court allows a ruling that ends a tool to protect minority voters in 7 states | Hansi Lo Wang/NPR

By declining to take up a lower court ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt another blow to the Voting Rights Act.The court announced Monday that it will not review an Arkansas-based lawsuit, leaving in place a 2025 appeals panel ruling that ends a long-used tool for protecting minority voters from discrimination under the landmark law in seven mainly Midwestern states.That ruling found that in the states covered by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota — private individuals and groups do not have the right to sue to enforce what’s known as Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which generally allows voters with a disability or inability to read or write to get help with voting from a person of their choice. Read Article

California: Trump says he asked US attorney for election probe: ‘Do me a favor’ | Marisa Guerra Echeverria, Blake Jones and Ben Johansen/Politico

President Donald Trump acknowledged having called federal prosecutors in California to probe the state’s primary election results, claiming without evidence on Tuesday that his intervention resulted in Republican Steve Hilton advancing to the runoff in the gubernatorial race. His remarks, at a rally in Pennsylvania, came weeks after California primary results first cemented Democrat Xavier Becerra as the front-runner advancing to the November ballot, with results for the Trump-endorsed Hilton arriving days later. “I called up the very powerful, very good U.S. attorney in California. I said, ‘Do me a favor. Take a look,’” the president said. Trump took credit for Hilton’s victory, claiming the former Fox News host only advanced after the attorney made a call to an unspecified person. “About an hour after the call, ladies and gentleman, Mr. Hilton has won,” Trump said. “Had I not made that call, Steve Hilton would be watching the election from home.” Read Article

Georgia will keep QR codes for counting votes through midterms | Sudhin Thanawala and Kate Brumback/Associated Press

Georgia will stick with an embattled vote-counting method that relies on a QR code for this year’s midterm elections after lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that put off making changes until 2028. The votes in the state House and Senate came after lawmakers limited a provision that requires a hand recount of ballots in certain races. Leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature said their plan to delay action on the vote-counting equipment had the support of the governor, Republican Brian Kemp. Kemp had called lawmakers into a special session in part to address a July 1 deadline that was set to ban the QR codes used for the official vote count. Legislators passed a law two years ago that set that deadline, but then failed to find a replacement for tabulating votes. Read Article

Michigan: Appeals court rejects Trump administration’s effort to get sensitive voter information | Melissa Quinn/CBS

A divided federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Justice Department is not entitled to Michigan’s voter registration list containing sensitive information from voters in the state. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit is now the first appeals court to weigh in on the Trump administration’s efforts to obtain the unredacted voter rolls from more than two dozen states. At issue in the case decided by the 6th Circuit is the Justice Department’s demand for the information from Michigan. In a 2-1 decision, the 6th Circuit said a provision of federal civil rights law does not entitle the government to Michigan’s voter registration list, which contains the names, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of all registered voters in the state, among other information. Read Article

New Hampshire: Weeks before election, state appeals ruling striking down proof-of-citizenship voting law | Ethan DeWitt/New Hampshire Bulletin

A month after a federal judge struck down a law requiring hard proof of citizenship to register to vote in New Hampshire, the state Attorney General’s Office has requested a stay of the decision while it appeals. On May 28, Judge Samantha Elliott of the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire ruled that the Republican law imposes an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote. Because of that ruling, first-time voters do not currently need hard proof of citizenship to register for the September state primary and November general elections, though they will need proof of identity, age, and domicile. The state’s motion, if successful, would allow the new proof-of-citizenship law to take effect this fall. Read Article

North Carolina House set to vote on sweeping election bill despite opposition to overseas voter restrictions | Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline

The North Carolina House of Representatives is expected to vote on a hotly contested election reform bill next week after it passed the powerful House Rules Committee on Wednesday. House Bill 958 passed the committee by a margin of 14-9, becoming one of the rare bills to not receive the support of all Republicans on the panel. That’s in part due to backlash over provisions that would require voter identification from military and overseas voters, among other restrictions. The bill did not arrive on the House floor Wednesday as lawmakers took up a slew of veto overrides instead. Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) told members of the media he expects a vote next week, though there may be additional changes coming to the bill. Read Article

Pennsylvania officials want to bar feds from polling places for midterms | Matthew Rink/USA Today

Trump’s rhetoric and executive orders over unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud, coupled with his expansion of ICE to carry out mass deportation of immigrants, has alarmed Democrats and other critics that the president might use federal agents to suppress voter turnout in places with high concentrations of Democrats during the midterm elections. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Philadelphia-area Democrat, in February announced he would introduce legislation that specifically bans these federal agents from entering polling places. Pennsylvania already prohibits on-duty law enforcement officers from being within 100 feet on a polling place unless they are responding to a specific incident. However, Kenyatta told the USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania that law says nothing about federal agents. Read Article

Texas lawmakers seek fixes to statewide voter registration system | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

Texas lawmakers on Tuesday asked the Texas Secretary of State’s Office for assurances that issues with the state’s voter registration and election management system would be fixed before the November midterm election. “Those fixes have to be done, because if we go into a November election and we don’t, we can’t claim that we have integrity in the voter roll,” said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Harris County, during a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing that addressed voter registration and voter list maintenance issues. Bettencourt said he’s heard complaints about the system, known as TEAM, from election officials in Travis, Austin, and Jackson counties, among others. Christina Adkins, the elections division director at the secretary of state’s office, said the agency is “dedicating every possible resource that we have within our office to resolving these issues.” Read Article

Wisconsin elections chair wants state to speed destruction of Milwaukee’s 2020 ballots amid FBI probe | Rich Kremer/WPR

The chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission wants state Attorney General Josh Kaul to push for the destruction of what he says are more than quarter-million absentee ballots from Milwaukee’s 2020 election, after the FBI interviewed city officials and police. The call by Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Don Millis, a Republican, comes after the FBI seized 2020 ballots in Georgia earlier this year amid President Donald Trump’s repeated false claims the election was stolen. During a Sunday appearance on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” Millis said FBI agents have been “offered up various conspiracy theories” about Milwaukee’s 2020 results that “certain grifters have put out there.” Millis said the agents have been professional and have been given information showing that “there was not any conspiracy or that the counting of the ballots in 2020 was wrong or done improperly.” Read Article

National: Experts alarmed as Trump launches broad-front attack on US voting rights | Peter Stone/The Guardian

The Trump administration is waging war on voting rights using justice department lawsuits, FBI investigations and an executive order to limit voting by mail, moves mirroring the US president’s false claims he lost the 2020 election due to voting fraud, say election experts and ex-officials. Since Donald Trump began his second term, numerous 2020 election denialists have been installed in key agencies such as the Department of Justice, the FBI and elsewhere to pursue widely discredited claims of fraud, which can intimidate election workers and voters in swing states that Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020. The justice department has also filed lawsuits seeking sensitive voter data from 30 states – even though, by law, states control elections – and the FBI has launched investigations into debunked allegations of voting fraud in Georgia, Wisconsin and a few other swing states that Trump lost in 2020. Trump in late March this year issued an executive order sharply tightening mail-in voting rules, which Trump has long claimed without evidence contribute to fraud. The order gives the United States Postal Service unprecedented powers to issue new rules making voting by mail harder. Read Article

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