Wisconsin updates election certification law; Evers vetoes HAVA complaint bill | Alexander Shur/Votebeat

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed a bill bringing Wisconsin in line with a federal law seeking to prevent the kind of post-election chaos that President Donald Trump and his allies sowed after the 2020 election. The Democrat also vetoed a Republican-authored bill that would have required the state election commission to hear administrative complaints against itself alleging violations of the federal Help America Vote Act, in line with a U.S. Justice Department demand for the state. That vetoed bill also would have required the state’s Legislative Audit Bureau to conduct audits for potential noncitizen voters. The bill Evers signed updates Wisconsin’s deadlines for certifying presidential election results and casting electoral votes to match federal timelines set by Congress in 2022, after President Donald Trump claimed to have won the 2020 election and hundreds of individuals stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. Read Articlea>

Wyoming: Weston County Clerk Arrested On Felony Election-Related Charges | Clair McFarland/Cowboy State Daily

Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock was arrested Wednesday on felony charges, the local jail has confirmed. Her attorney, Ryan Semerad of Casper-based Fuller and Semerad LLC, also confirmed she’d been arrested Wednesday morning. She also had an initial appearance in court Wednesday, after which she was released on a $3,000 signature bond, a jail deputy said. The Newcastle Circiut Court confirmed those details. Hadlock faces two felony charges, Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. One is violation of the election code by an official, and the other is falsifying election documents. Each is punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Her case is ongoing. Read Article

National: Democrats sue to block Trump’s ‘unconstitutional’ mail ballot order | Jonathan Shorman/News From The States

Democrats sued over President Donald Trump’s executive order clamping down on mail ballots on Wednesday, signaling the start of another fight with the White House over elections. The order, which would create a national list of voting-age American citizens and directs the U.S. Postal Service to place limits on mail-in ballots, constitutes an extraordinary and illegal attempt by Trump to intervene in the voting process, election experts said. he order is a “structural inversion” of how mail voting works, said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, an organization that promotes the responsible use of technology in elections. USPS delivers mail and isn’t involved in distributing ballots, she said.“It is not up to the Postal Service to have this gatekeeping role over ballot delivery,” Smith said. Democrats sue to block Trump’s ‘unconstitutional’ mail ballot order | News From The States

National: The actual danger of Trump’s phony vote-by-mail executive order | Richard L. Hasen/Slate

Sometimes it’s the chaos, not the cruelty, that’s the point. That certainly seems true of President Donald Trump’s second executive order on elections, issued on Tuesday. The order purports, among other things, to direct the United States Department of Homeland Security to create a list of all U.S. citizens over 18, to supply that list to states, and for the United States Postal Service to refuse to accept mailed-in ballots from voters unless that voter’s name appears on a list of the state’s eligible voters that it has given USPS months before the election (a list which presumably the state would have to match with the DHS’ list, though that part—among many others!—is unclear). The order will face multiple court challenges and likely will be found unconstitutional by courts. Even if courts did not intervene before November, the multiple rulemakings and new procedures for DHS, USPS, and state and local election officials envisioned by the order would be impossible to implement before November’s elections. Indeed, the order is so underwhelming that it suggests Trump’s real purpose was not its implementation but to create more confusion and litigation around elections, further undermining voter confidence in the integrity of American elections. The actual danger of Trump’s phony vote-by-mail executive order.

National: Trump signs order directing creation of a national voter list | Seung Min Kim, Ali Swenson, Matt Brown, and Jonathan J. Cooper/Associated Press

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, a move that swiftly drew legal threats from state Democratic officials ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The order, which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by attempting to seize states’ power to run elections, is the latest in a torrent of efforts from Trump to interfere with the way Americans vote based on his false allegations of fraud. The president has repeatedly lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential campaign and the integrity of state-run elections, asserting again Tuesday that he won “three times” and citing accusations of voter fraud that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked. The order signed Tuesday calls on the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to make the list of eligible voters in each state. It also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list. Trump signs order directing creation of a national voter list | AP NewsRead Article>

National: The Trump Administration’s Strategy for Reshaping Elections  | Michael McNulty/Just Security

The 2026 midterms will be a stress test for whether election outcomes are determined by the will of the voters or by who controls the machinery of elections. President Donald Trump and his allies have pursued a sequence of actions that, taken together, mirror strategies of democratic backsliding elsewhere, reshaping the rules, the referees, and the information environment to tilt the playing field before a single vote is cast. This playbook is not unique to the United States. I spent more than two decades working on elections in countries where – time and time again – democracy was eroded by those in power and where seizing control of elections was a key feature in the authoritarian playbook. For example, in Hungary, after decades of democratic norms, Viktor Orbán’s government gradually seized control of election administration, the courts, and the media — not in one dramatic move, but step-by-step. Independent election oversight bodies were weakened, the judiciary was stacked with loyalists, media outlets were consolidated under government-friendly ownership, and the rules governing elections were changed to favor the ruling party. Each change alone seemed small, but together they created a system where the playing field was heavily skewed toward the ruling party and voters’ voices were silenced. The warning from Hungary and other backsliding countries illustrates a consistent pattern: when leaders make their intentions explicit and begin coordinating an election takeover in public view, the window of time to defend democracy rapidly begins to shrink. Read Article

National: Trump’s anti-voting order will mean chaos for mail voters if left to stand, experts warn | Jim Saksa/Democracy Docket

President Donald Trump’s new executive order on elections would tie up millions of everyday Americans who vote by mail in tangles of red tape, experts in election administration said. And that’s assuming government officials could even implement it in time for the upcoming midterm elections. Implementing Trump’s diktat ahead of the November midterms is simply “not feasible,” said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting. “The order itself is so convoluted,” Smith added. “That’s not up to the Postal Service. You can’t make them the gatekeepers for ballot delivery. That’s not somehow refining an existing practice to make it better, or whatever — that just doesn’t work.” Trump’s anti-voting order will mean chaos for mail voters if left to stand, experts warn – Democracy Docket

National: Federal election observers once played a key role in securing voting rights for all − but times have changed | Allison Mashell Mitchell/The Conversation

President Donald Trump appeared on former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino’s podcast in February 2026, where he stated: “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.” Trump’s call to nationalize elections, to transfer the constitutionally mandated control of elections from local to federal authorities, drew bipartisan opposition and added to Democratic fears that the president may attempt to interfere with upcoming midterm elections. Despite Trump’s call to “nationalize the voting,” the U.S. Constitution clearly notes that states run elections – not the federal government. The federal government, however, has a role to play in national elections – as an observer. Federal observation ensures that Americans cast their votes on election day without reprisal. Initially dispatched to deter voter discrimination against Black Americans after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, election observers ensured that those qualified to vote could do so without trouble. Read Article

National: Privacy officer resigns as DOJ readies voter data for DHS | Jude Joffe-Block/NPR

As Justice Department officials are working to acquire sensitive voter registration data from states and have recently disclosed a plan to share it with the Department of Homeland Security, a key privacy officer in DOJ’s division tasked with enforcing civil and voting rights laws has resigned. Kilian Kagle was the chief FOIA officer and senior component official for privacy for DOJ’s Civil Rights Division before leaving his post in recent days. His resignation has not been previously reported. For nearly a year, the DOJ has been making unprecedented demands for sensitive voter data from most states – including voters’ driver’s license numbers, partial Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses – that some say violate privacy law. Read Article

National: Can you change your mind after you mail in your ballot? It depends. | Alexander Shur/Votebeat

When the U.S. Supreme Court last week took up the question of late-arriving mail ballots, the discussion turned to something more basic: when a vote becomes final. Justice Neil Gorsuch raised a hypothetical — whether a voter who has already mailed a ballot could change their mind and have a postal carrier cancel their delivery after learning new information about a candidate, even after Election Day. For Mississippi, the plaintiff in the case before the court, the answer was clear. The state’s Solicitor General Scott G. Stewart told the court that’s not possible there. Once a ballot is cast, it stays cast. The justices also spent significant time on the broader question of finality — whether voters ever get a second chance, or at least a way to undo a vote made too soon. In most states, they don’t, especially after a ballot has been received by election officials and tabulated. Read Article

Arizona voters can now show ID to get their mail ballots counted faster | Sasha Hupka/Votebeat

In Arizona, voters have long had the option of dropping off their mail ballots at polling places. Under state law, voters must show identification to cast ballots in person, but those dropping off ballots are allowed to skip that step — as well as any associated lines at the polls. Instead, they just have to sign the envelope that contains their ballot and place it in a secure box at the polling site. Trained staff later compare that signature to signatures the voter has on file before counting their vote. That process, called signature verification, is a key safeguard against fraud. But it also takes time — and as the state has morphed into a key electoral battleground, there has been increasing consternation with how long it takes to count so-called “late early” ballots dropped off in the final hours of voting. In 2024, state lawmakers passed legislation requiring election officials to offer a new option. Like Flahive, voters in the upcoming midterm election will have the option to wait in line and show a driver’s license, passport, or similar form of identification, instead of dropping their ballot off to go through signature verification. This option would allow their votes to be processed sooner and counted more quickly. Read Article

Arizona: Hand count immunity denied to Mohave County supervisor by Arizona Supreme Court | Howard Fischer/Arizona Capitol Times

Mohave County Supervisor Ron Gould isn’t going to get immunity for the next time he wants to hand count ballots. In a brief order, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to disturb a decision by the state Court of Appeals that Gould is entitled to such an order. That ends the case. But Gould said it really doesn’t resolve the matter. He pointed out that the ruling against him never addressed the question of whether he — or any supervisor from any county — is free to pursue a hand count without what he says are “threats and intimidation” by Attorney General Kris Mayes. Instead, the appellate judges said he had no standing to ask the court to prospectively grant him immunity because he has yet to get the supervisors to pursue a hand count, one that Mayes has said is illegal and told the board “may result” in criminal penalties. Read Article

California: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco suspends election fraud probe | Grace Toohey/Los Angeles Times

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a leading Republican candidate for governor, said Monday that he had paused his controversial investigation into unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, a probe that was facing mounting legal challenges and ethical concerns. It was a major reversal for the outspoken Trump supporter, who had defended the investigation — and broadened its scope — just last week. Bianco’s employees have seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in Riverside County during November’s election. Bianco’s attorney, Robert Tyler, said the sheriff had decided to wait for the courts to weigh in on the case before proceeding with the investigation or potentially terminating it, as California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has requested. Tyler said they were not conceding “that the attorney general has the ability to step in and stop a lawful investigation,” but said the case had brought up complex legal issues, such as competing authority between the executive and legal branches, that need to be addressed. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco suspends election fraud probe – Los Angeles Times

Colorado court orders resentencing for former county clerk Tina Peters | Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown/Associated Press

A Colorado appeals court ruled Thursday that a former county clerk convicted in a scheme that sought to prove fraud in the 2020 presidential election should be resentenced because a judge wrongly punished her for statements protected as free speech. Tina Peters is serving a nine-year prison term after being convicted of state crimes for sneaking in an outside computer expert to make a copy of her county’s election computer system during a software update in 2021. A photo and video of confidential voting system passwords were later posted on social media and a conservative website. Calls for Peters’ release have become a cause celebre in the election conspiracy movement. President Donald Trump has sought unsuccessfully to pardon Peters and pressured Colorado to set her free. Read Article

Florida Governor signs state version of the SAVE Act | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday that will require proof of citizenship to vote and impose stricter voter ID restrictions on Floridians. The new law, most of which won’t take effect until after the midterm elections, is Florida’s version of the federal SAVE America Act, a bill President Donald Trump has championed. That measure is currently stalled in the U.S. Senate, where it lacks the 60 votes needed to advance under current rules. “This bill protects and expands integrity in our voter registration process,” DeSantis said. “Our Constitution in the state of Florida says only American citizens are allowed to vote in our elections, so we need to make sure that is the law.” Democrats and voting rights advocates warn Florida’s law will disenfranchise eligible voters who lack ready access to the documents that are needed to vote. Read Article

Georgia: Elections bill capsizes on final day of 2026 session | Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder

In an unexpected twist, members of the House and Senate concluded the 2026 legislative session without ending their longstanding stalemate over election policy, as Georgia hurtles toward the deadline for removing QR codes from voters’ ballots without a clear solution in sight. The lack of a solution has some lawmakers calling on Gov. Brian Kemp to convene a special session to give them another shot at passing an elections bill this year. On the final legislative day, House lawmakers passed Senate Bill 214, a measure that would postpone lawmakers’ self-imposed deadline for removing QR codes from ballots until 2028 and direct the state to begin the process of procuring a new election system this upcoming February. But the bill never made it across the finish line in the Senate, which adjourned shortly after 1 a.m. without taking up the measure. Since the 2026 session was also the end of the biennium, all bills must be refiled next year and start the legislative process over. Read Article

Georgia: Fulton County alleges DOJ used  FBI raid to circumvent lawsuit, seize 2020 ballots | Jacob Knutson/Democracy Docket

Fulton County officials fighting for the return of 2020 election materials seized by the FBI asked a federal judge Tuesday to order the Department of Justice (DOJ) to disclose details about its repeated attempts to obtain the county’s election records. In a new filing, the officials alleged that unusual events before the FBI’s raid strongly suggested that the DOJ, having previously sought the records through demand letters and a lawsuit, pursued a criminal investigation against the county to seize and access the documents by force. The county officials noted that the FBI’s January search was initiated around 48 days after the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division sought the same records in a lawsuit filed in mid December and just days after the division ran into legal obstacles in that suit. Fulton County alleges DOJ used  FBI raid to circumvent lawsuit, seize 2020 ballots – Democracy Docket

Kansas Legislature passes package of elections bills that alter voting processes | Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector

Kansas Republicans passed a package of legislation that purports to bolster election integrity but evoked warnings from Democrats of potential voter suppression. Despite pleas Wednesday from the top Democrat on the House Elections Committee to let the legislation die, most Republicans supported House Bills 2569 and 2437. HB 2569 could eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting if…

Oregon: With a national vote-by-mail fight ahead, Central Oregon leaders say some damage is already done | Jen Baires/OPB

A handful of Central Oregon’s elected leaders representing all levels of government gathered at Bend City Hall Wednesday afternoon to push back against President Donald Trump’s recent attempts to overhaul the country’s voting system. Oregon voters turn out to vote at some of the highest rates in the nation, ever since the state led the country in adopting an all vote-by-mail system more than 25 years ago. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order to create a federal voter database and require the U.S. Postal Service to process mail-in ballots with specialized envelopes and barcodes for tracking. With a national vote-by-mail fight ahead, Central Oregon leaders say some damage is already done – OPB

Utah’s top elections offical compares Trump’s voting list order to ‘nonsensical dialogue’ | Emily Anderson Stern and Addy Baird/The Salt Lake Tribune

Within hours of President Donald Trump issuing an executive order Tuesday that attempts to create lists of eligible voters and crack down on mail-in voting, Utah’s top election official — a Republican — mocked the threats from the head of her party. “POV: When the latest Executive Order reminds you of that time when you were a senior in high school and you performed in a one act play called ‘Jack or the Submission’ by absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco and it was super weird and the script was full of nonsensical dialogue,” Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson wrote in a Threads post Tuesday evening, with a link to the order. Henderson’s remarks come in the midst of Trump’s Justice Department suing Utah and, so far, 28 other states to gain full access to their voter databases. Federal courts have thrown out four of those lawsuits. Read Article

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