Opinion: Midterms are more than a year away, but Trump is already challenging them | Chris Brennan/USA TODAY

The 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act came and went on Aug. 6 amid a massive mission shift within the U.S. Department of Justice. That agency spent six decades using the Civil Rights Movement law to protect the ability of all Americans to cast ballots in elections. Now, the people President Donald Trump put in charge at the DOJ have shifted that mission entirely to protecting him from election results he dislikes. The DOJ is out of the civil rights business. Now its officials making demands, with not-so-veiled threats, for data from state election administrators while regurgitating Trump’s oldest lie about elections – that hoards of noncitizens cast ballots, changing who wins and loses. Read Article

As Arizona adopts new system for overseas voters, some officials sound alarmncern | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

Overseas voters who are registered in Arizona are receiving their ballots this week in a new way for the state’s special congressional election — but at least a few county officials are worried that the new system isn’t ready, and say they didn’t have enough time to notify voters of the change. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced the launch of the new system on Friday for military and overseas voters who are registered to vote in Arizona and eligible to vote through the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA. These voters will now cast their ballots through a web portal run by an outside vendor, technology company Enhanced Voting, rather than using an in-house system. Fontes’ office is promoting the change as a long-needed upgrade that will allow overseas voters to cast their ballots anonymously and fully electronically for the first time. “This new system is a leap forward in ensuring that every eligible voter, no matter where they are in the world, can easily cast a ballot that is both secure and truly anonymous,” Fontes wrote in a news release. Read Article

California: Clint Curtis is asking for millions more for Shasta County elections. Without it, he says, he might not be able to increase trust. | Annelise Pierce/Shasta Scout

“What would that cost?” It’s a question only one Shasta County supervisor, Chris Kelstrom, asked during the interview process for Shasta’s top elections job in April this year. Kelstrom queried Clint Curtis on the cost of his promised plan to film ballot processing during elections, something Curtis says is needed to ensure trust in elections. Curtis never answered the question, but Kelstrom and two other supervisors, Kevin Crye and Corkey Harmon, voted to appoint him anyway. They said they didn’t think there were any significant problems with Shasta County elections but the ballot processing model Curtis was championing could serve as a model nationwide. The newly appointed election official stepped into his role in late May. At budget hearings a few weeks later, Curtis told supervisors he didn’t have real numbers yet on how much his plans would cost to implement, but it likely wouldn’t be much more than the budget they were already approving. Read Article

Georgia’s Election Chief Brad Raffensperger Makes a Comeback | Cameron McWhirter/The Wall Street Journal

Five years ago, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was banished to the political wilderness. Donald Trump blamed the mild-mannered election chief for his narrow 2020 Georgia defeat, branding him a RINO (Republican in Name Only), “incompetent and strange.” Death threats poured in. GOP senators demanded he resign for reaffirming, after recounts and audits, that Trump lost the battleground state. The attacks stunned Raffensperger, a businessman and devout Christian who came late to public life. One consultant dubbed him “Dead Brad Walking.” Yet something unexpected happened on the way to his demise: He not only survived, winning re-election in 2022, but has become a serious contender in Georgia politics. Read Article

Michigan residents sue Whitmer for failing to call special election in state Senate district | Kyle Davidson/Michigan Advance

After more than seven months without representation in the Michigan Senate, several residents of Michigan’s 35th Senate District are taking legal action against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in hopes of compelling the governor to call a special election in the district. The suit, filed in the Michigan Court of Claims by Outside Law PLC on Sunday, was brought on behalf of seven residents from Saginaw, Midland and Bay counties. The complaint seeks a writ of mandamus from the court compelling the Democratic governor to initiate a special election for the open Senate seat. The suit is also seeking a declaratory judgment that a failure to call the special election violates the Michigan Constitution, and an injunction requiring the scheduling of a special election at the earliest practicable time. Read Article

North Carolina elections board confirmed ID lawsuit resolution, approved early voting plans | Theresa Opeka/Carolina Journal

As a matter of procedure, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) read over a settlement reached in the case of the Republican National Committee (RNC) v. the NCSBE at their meeting on Friday. NCSBE General Counsel Paul Cox said that under the Open Meetings law, it is required that once a public body makes a settlement in a closed session, that settlement, once executed, has to be reported out at the next public meeting. State and national Republican groups and the NCSBE reached a deal last month to end the lawsuit over voter identification and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s digital ID. The elections board agreed not to accept any “electronic identification” as a voter ID unless the General Assembly approves a new law permitting that type of ID. Read Article

Oregon Rejects DOJ’s Request To Share Private Voter Data, Citing Concerns of Unlawful Use | Matt Cohen/Democracy Docket

In a detailed letter, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read rejected an offer to meet with prosecutors in the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal division to discuss a potential agreement to share private voter data with the federal government. As part of the DOJ’s recent effort to obtain sensitive voter data from every state, prosecutors from the department’s criminal division have contacted some states requesting a meeting “to discuss a potential information-sharing agreement” to feed the department private voter information to help assist its hunt for voter fraud. “With your cooperation, we plan to use this information to enforce Federal election laws and protect the integrity of Federal elections,” reads the email sent July 10 by Scott Laragy, principal deputy director for the executive office for United States attorneys, and Paul Hayden, senior counsel in the DOJ’s criminal division. Read Article

Pennsylvania voter ID proposal may not prevent most ballot fraud | Carter Walker/Votebeat

Stricter voter ID requirements would likely not have prevented people from casting fraudulent ballots in the vast majority of cases charged in Pennsylvania over the past decade, a Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis shows. Over the 10 years, the organizations found 14 instances in which law enforcement or election officials say at least one fraudulent ballot was cast. The analysis is based on Pennsylvania court system data on election crimes charged between July 2015 and July 2025, and additional reports identified by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The organizations then cross-checked this data with news reports and charging documents to determine whether any fraudulent ballots were cast. Read Article

Pennsylvania: Justice Department wants more voter and election information from Pa. officials | Tirzah Christopher/PennLive

The Department of Justice has sent a second letter to the Pennsylvania Department of State requesting records on voters, election officials and duplicate voting. The letter, dated Aug. 3, which requested a list of all state and local election officials responsible for maintaining voter registration lists from November 2022 through the date the letter was received. The agency also asked for more information on the state’s efforts to combat duplicate voting as well as voter registration history for all voters categorized as noncitizens, “adjudicated incompetent,” or who had a felony conviction during the same period. Read Article

Texas redistricting fight complicates prep for 2026 primary | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

With Texas legislators locked in a standoff over Republicans’ push to redraw the state’s congressional districts mid-decade, time is running out for election officials to prepare for next year’s primary without major disruption. Planning for the March primary election is already underway, but election officials say they can’t move forward without finalized maps — and the first key deadline, mandated by the state, is coming Sept. 9. Democratic lawmakers have pledged to remain out of the state in protest of the Republicans’ proposed congressional map, making an agreement unlikely by the end of the special session Aug. 19. The proposed map could still change, and if Gov. Greg Abbott calls another special session, the debate could extend well into the fall. Read Article

Wisconsin Governor vetoes bill that would have made unpaid court fees a barrier to voting | Frank ZufallWisconsin Examiner

Gov. Tony Evers recently vetoed a Republican-sponsored bill, AB87/SB95, that would have suspended the right to vote for Wisconsinites convicted of a felony who have served their sentence until they fulfill outstanding court-order obligations, such as fines, costs, restitution or community service. In Wisconsin, people who have served their criminal sentence for a felony, including incarceration and community service, parole, probation and extended supervision, are eligible to vote. But the proposed legislation would have required any outstanding requirements – “fines, costs, fees, surcharges, and restitution [and] any court-ordered community service, imposed in connection with the crime” – to be addressed in full before voting rights were fully restored. Read Article

The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election | Jasleen Singh/Brennan Center for Justice

In 2020, 2022, and 2024, our nation held federal elections. Despite the pandemic, threats of violence, denial of results, and extraordinary pressure, these were secure and accurate. Election officials worked together across party lines. The system held. This year, however, a new threat to free and fair elections has emerged: the federal government itself. The Trump administration has launched a concerted drive to undermine American elections. These moves are unprecedented and in some cases illegal. They began with the pardon of the January 6 defendants who sought to overturn the 2020 results. They include affirmative attacks on democratic institutions, the repeal and withdrawal of voter protections, and symbolic or demonstrative moves. A clear pattern suggests a growing effort. As the 2026 midterms approach, that effort will likely gather momentum. Read Article

National: Less staff, even less trust: Some states say they can’t rely on Trump’s DHS for election security | Kevin Collier/NBC

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), created in 2018 in the first Trump administration as part of the Department of Homeland Security to protect crucial services from hackers, has emerged in recent years as the clearinghouse for election officials to share cybersecurity information. But things have changed in the second Trump administration, which has cut most of CISA’s election security services and has sought to punish its first director for openly defying the president, particularly around election fraud claims. Three state election heads and a former CISA official who spoke to NBC News said it’s clear the agency is no longer as effective in protecting U.S. elections. “You’re hanging states out to dry, basically, to let them fend for themselves,” said Pam Smith, the president of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to providing election officials with resources for their jobs. “If you do that, I don’t think you can expect that people will share,” she said. “That sort of trusted relationship is essentially broken. That’s not to say that it couldn’t be rebuilt, but it would require some evidence that they’ve got your back.” Read Article

National: Voting Rights Act of 1965 faces new threats to survival | Hansi Lo Wang/NPR

At a time when the Justice Department under the Trump administration has backed off from voting rights lawsuits the department had brought when former President Joe Biden was in office, the prospect of voters of color no longer being allowed to bring their own cases has supporters of the Voting Rights Act concerned about the law’s survival. While the Voting Rights Act is widely considered one of the most effective civil rights laws in U.S. history, the exact scope of Section 2 lawsuits is difficult to quantify, largely because many historical court records have yet to be digitized and fully catalogued. Still, estimates back up what has long been known in the legal world: Private individuals and groups, not the Justice Department, have brought the overwhelming majority of Section 2 cases. Read Article

National: Trump and his allies mount a pressure campaign against US elections ahead of the midterms | Fredreka Schouten/CNN

Next year’s midterms hold enormous stakes for Trump and his opposition. Democrats need to net just three seats in the US House in 2026 to flip control of the chamber from Republicans. A Democratic-led House could block Trump’s legislative agenda and launch investigations of the president in the second half of his second term. Samantha Tarazi, CEO of the nonprofit Voting Rights Lab, which has closely tracked state developments, said she believes Trump is gearing up “to use the power of his office to interfere in the 2026 election. What started as an unconstitutional executive order — marching orders for state action regardless of its fate in court — has grown into a full federal mobilization to seize power over our elections,” she said. Read Article

National: New state, local cyber grant rules prohibit spending on Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center | Colin Wood/StateScoop

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday published the notice of funding opportunity for the fourth and final year of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Among the details explaining the latest round of funding for the $1 billion program is a stipulation that grantees may not spend their funds on services provided by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a group that for more than 20 years has shared critical cybersecurity intelligence across state lines and provided software and other resources at free or heavily discounted rates. The notice outlines numerous other items states and their local government are not permitted to spend cyber grant funding on, a list with obvious inclusions like “recreational and social purposes,” along with perhaps less obvious prohibitions, like covering ransoms in ransomware attacks, paying cybersecurity insurance premiums or paying for land or other construction costs associated with building new facilities. Read Article

National: Gabbard overrode CIA officials’ concerns in push to release classified Russia report | Warren P. Strobel/The Washington Post

The Trump administration pushed to unveil a highly classified document on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election after an intense behind-the-scenes struggle over secrecy, which ended in late July when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a minimally redacted version of the report, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Gabbard, with the blessing of President Donald Trump, overrode arguments from the CIA and other intelligence agencies that more of the document should remain classified to obscure U.S. spy agencies’ sources and methods, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like others interviewed for this report, because of the matter’s sensitivity. Read Article

National: DOJ plans to ask all states for detailed voting info | Jonathan Shorman/Stateline

U.S. Department of Justice officials say the department will seek voting and election information from all 50 states, according to a national group that includes many top state election officials. The department has sent letters to at least nine states in recent months asking for information related to voter list maintenance in the states under the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. Several letters also request state voter registration lists, prompting concern among some Democrats and voting rights activists about how the department, under the control of President Donald Trump, plans to use the data. Read Article

National: Why defunding the Election Assistance Commission may hurt election integrity | Jonathan Madison, Matt Germer and Chris McIsaac/R Street Institute

Americans want secure, trustworthy elections. Unfortunately, the president’s proposed budget envisions a substantial cut—nearly 40 percent—to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a small agency focused on certifying voting technology. In an era of justifiable concern over rampant government spending, it’s tempting to see every budget cut as a win for fiscal responsibility. But some cuts risk doing more harm than good. At a time when public trust in elections is fragile and threats to voting systems are growing more sophisticated, gutting the very agency responsible for shoring up election infrastructure sends the wrong message and creates real vulnerabilities. The EAC plays a vital role that few people know much about. Created under the 2002 Help America Vote Act, it coordinates testing and certification of voting systems, accredits laboratories, distributes grants, and publishes guidance to bolster election administration. It’s a bipartisan commission with a rare track record of productivity. While it’s right to ensure every agency delivers value for taxpayers, these cuts risk impairing the EAC’s ability to carry out core election security functions—just as the Trump administration looks to increase its workload. Read Article

Alabama: Sixty years after the Voting Rights Act, marchers recall a hard-won struggle | Kim Chandler/Associated Press

Facing a sea of state troopers, Charles Mauldin was near the front line of voting rights marchers who strode across the now-infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. The violence that awaited them shocked the nation and galvanized support for the passage of the U.S. Voting Rights Act a few months later. Wednesday marked the 60th anniversary of the landmark legislation becoming law. Those at the epicenter of the fight for voting rights for Black Americans recalled their memories of the struggle, and expressed fear that those hard-won rights are being eroded. Read Article

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes cuts staff, citing tight budget | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is eliminating several top positions in his office, citing budget constraints. On Wednesday, his communications director confirmed that three staffers — George Diaz, director of government relations; JP Martin, deputy communications director; and Angie Cloutier, security operations manager — are being dismissed. Fontes’ office oversees statewide elections as well as the state library, archives, and business services. Read Article

California: Elon Musk and X notch court win against deepfake law | Chase DiFeliciantonio/Politico

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a California law restricting AI-generated, deepfake content during elections — among the strictest such measures in the country — notching a win for Elon Musk and his X platform, which challenged the rules. But Judge John Mendez also declined to give an opinion on the free speech arguments that were central to the plaintiffs’ case, instead citing federal rules for online platforms for his decision. Mendez also said he intended to overrule a second law, which would require labels on digitally altered campaign materials and ads, for violating the First Amendment. The judge’s decisions Tuesday deal a blow to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the laws last year in a rebuke of Musk, vowing to take action after the tech billionaire and then-Donald Trump supporter shared a doctored video of former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the election. Read Article

Georgia Election Board seeks DOJ aid to again investigate 2020 election | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Three right-wing members of the State Election Board have revived a fight over the 2020 presidential election and called for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to intervene. The surprise move by the Republican board members — the same three praised by Trump as “pit bulls” during a campaign rally last fall — gives new life to skepticism of the president’s narrow loss in Georgia in 2020. While many elected Republicans in Georgia have said they want to move on from 2020 after Trump’s undisputed win last year, the State Election Board remains focused on its questions about Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 recount. Although multiple recounts, state investigations and court cases upheld the 2020 election, Trump’s supporters continue to make unproven allegations of fraud. Read Article

Hawaiʻi Elections Officials Tackle Big Island Ballot Discrepancies | Chad Blair/Honolulu Civil Beat

The Wednesday meeting of the Hawaiʻi Elections Commission was unlike all others over the past three years in that Commissioner Ralph Cushnie, an outspoken election skeptic, didn’t say much. He didn’t have to. Nearly all of the dozens of people who testified during the lengthy Zoom meeting, as well as some of Cushnie’s fellow commissioners, were singing from the Cushnie hymnal. It goes like this: There is something wrong with the way Hawaiʻi counts its mail-in ballots. The county and state elections offices need to be independently audited. The state’s chief elections officer needs to be disciplined or fired. Nothing less than voter integrity and the credibility of democracy in Hawaiʻi rides on it. Read Article

Michigan clerk uses quiet Aug. 5 election to prep for busier ones ahead | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

On one of her two purple phones, Livonia City Clerk Lori Miller has a sticker that proudly proclaims “I 💜 Boring Elections.” And on Tuesday, that’s just what she got. Elections in her city and across the state were uneventful, a welcome gift to clerks who are bracing for a busy 2026. Miller used the primary in Livonia, a Detroit suburb in Wayne County, as an opportunity to test out some upgrades ahead of a competitive city council race in November and next year’s elections for the U.S. House and Senate, state legislative seats, governor, and other statewide offices. Read Article

Michigan: Mediation ordered in fight over election training materials | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

A Michigan Court of Claims judge ordered mediation in the lawsuit the Michigan House filed against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over subpoenas to obtain training materials for election administrators, the release of which Benson fears could compromise election security. Benson has provided some of the material sought by the Republican-led Michigan House Oversight Committee but has expressed concerns that some of the information requested could end up in the wrong hands. The Michigan House filed its lawsuit against Benson in June, arguing that they have a right to review the material to ensure that election officials receive proper training that complies with Michigan election law. Read Article

Pennsylvania voters are rarely hampered by malfunctioning machines, reports show | Carter Walker/Votebeat

Pennsylvania voters encountered only scattered voting-machine malfunctions that rarely affected their ability to cast ballots in recent elections, according to a Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis of problems reported to the state. Counties reported a smattering of common problems with machines at polling places, such as paper jams and error messages. They typically got such issues fixed quickly by having technicians on call or simply replacing the machine. For election officials, sending out a technician or staffer to a polling place is usually easier and more efficient than trying to walk a poll worker through a fix over the phone, said Forrest Lehman, election director in Lycoming County. Officials refer to these traveling helpers as rovers or roamers. Read Article

Texas election officials concerned about software vendors’ financial scare | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

A company that makes software used by Texas’ largest counties to manage voter registration data has thrown election officials for a loop again with the departure of two top executives and mixed messages about its financial viability, just months before a critical statewide election. The latest word from Votec Corp.’s chairman is that the company has secured enough funds to continue operating for now. But the California-based company’s dire warnings about a shutdown just days earlier spooked some county election officials, who must now consider whether to try to switch to a new commercial vendor, migrate to a state-run system that they have concerns about, or stick with an unsteady partner in Votec. The uncertainty follows a similar scare last year, when Votec demanded a 35% surcharge from its customers to help it stay afloat. And it comes as election officials prepare for a constitutional amendment election Nov. 4, a potential redrawing of legislative districts and next year’s primary election. Read Article

Texas: Appeals court upholds law requiring ID numbers to cast mail-in ballots | Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney/Politico

A federal appeals court has ruled that Texas may enforce a state law that invalidates mail-in ballots submitted without a voter’s state identification number or partial Social Security number. A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the requirement the Texas Legislature enacted in 2021 as part of an election-integrity bill known as SB1 did not violate a federal law preventing states from imposing voting requirements “not material” to the validity of ballots. Civil rights groups and the Biden administration sued to block enforcement of aspects of the election-integrity measure, arguing that the bill had the potential to disqualify large numbers of ballots that were cast by legitimate voters but might contain minor errors. Read Article

Wisconsin Elections Commission deactivates roughly 192,000 voters during routine maintenance | Mia Thurow/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has deactivated over 192,000 voter registrations through the legally required four-year maintenance process, according to an Aug. 1 press release. The 192,369 individuals deactivated had not voted in the past four years and did not respond to mailing regarding their registration status, said Meagan Wolfe, WEC’s administrator. The commission is required by Wisconsin law to conduct voter record maintenance every two years to identify individuals and deactivate their registration status unless they notify their clerk with a desire to remain registered. Read Article