Federal Update>: According to published reports, when the House returns from its August recess this week, Republicans once again will demand new voting restrictions, citing New Jersey’s voter registration glitch as a reason for the legislation. The House is scheduled to vote on legislation calling for passage of the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and require a specific voter ID to cast a ballot. President Donald Trump repeatedly has demanded that Congress enact the legislation, only to be rebuffed by Senate Republicans who have been unable to garner the 60 votes needed to clear that chamber, or even the 51 votes needed to repeal the filibuster. The GOP-controlled House has voted along party lines four times in support of the measure. The resolution to be brought to the House floor specifically cites the recent glitch in New Jersey, where a software error led to around 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote. Fewer than 400 residents who were mistakenly registered to vote cast ballots, the state said last month. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) wrote in a New Jersey Globe op-ed that the state’s registration errors provided another argument for the SAVE America Act.
California: A number of election security bills progressed this week as the California Legislature approaches the end of its 2026 session.
Assembly Bill 1664, authored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley, requires election officials to report federal election interference to the California Department of Justice and the secretary of state. That can include the use of warrants, subpoenas or law enforcement investigations where election materials are searched and seized, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.
Assembly Bill 1853, authored by Assemblymembers Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, would require uniform rules about the kind of language included in candidate statements that are published in voter information guides. Among other things, reference to a candidate’s opponents in the race, URLS and QR codes, profane or vulgar language, violent language, false statements and misleading claims would be barred in candidate statements.
Two bills sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom would make it a felony to interfere with mail ballots or to seize ballots and other election materials before an election is certified. They come amid concern from Democratic lawmakers that President Trump or his supporters will seek to interfere with the casting and counting of ballots in the Nov. 3 election. Newsom earlier this year signed a bill preventing local and federal law enforcement agencies from taking ballots without a warrant. Legislation by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz) goes even further by making it a felony to take or order the seizure of ballots, election records or voting machines. Such actions would be punishable by up to four years in prison. “The federal administration and those seeking to spread lies about our democracy continue to call for interference in elections in ways we have never seen before in this country,” Pellerin said Sunday. “AB 282 helps ensure that every lawfully cast vote can be counted, and that the will of the voters of every political party will be respected.” Another bill, SB 259, makes it a crime to interfere with a mail ballot on the way to or from a voter or order the seizure of ballots that are in transit to a local elections office. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills.
Lincoln, Nebraska: Lincoln City Attorney Yohance Christie announced that the deadline has passed for any proposed Lincoln City Charter amendments to go to voters this November. The decision sets up an imminent court battle over the fate of three proposed city charter amendments from the petitioning group Good Government Lincoln. A spokesperson for the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office confirmed the office filed a lawsuit against city officials seeking to certify the measures for November. The office declined to comment further. In a news release just after 6 p.m. Auguts 27, Christie said two of the three petitions from Good Government Lincoln have qualified for the ballot. However, because the Lincoln City Council must provide proper public notice, host a public hearing and then vote on including the measures on the ballot, Christie said, it’s too late for them to get on the Nov. 3 ballot. State law requires Lincoln officials to place any measures on the November ballot by August 25. “The City Council is under no obligation to bypass their processes for placing petitions on the ballot because of a missed deadline,” Christie wrote. “The City Council will place the Charter amendments on the next general election ballot (May 2027) pursuant to state law.”
North Carolina Rulemaking: The Rules Review Commission unanimously approved changes for elections and voting on August 27, though at least some of those rules may not be ready in time for the midterm elections. The Commission is usually a final stop for administrative rules changes before they’re activated. That’s unless at least 10 people object to a rule. When 10 or more people write acceptable letters of objection, rules effective dates are delayed for legislative review in the General Assembly’s next regular session. The legislature is on a break but is still in session. The next regular session won’t start until next year. As of August 26, the proposed rules for photo ID and for voting site conduct received more than 10 objection letters, as did one section of a proposed rule on recounts. Brian LiVecchi, state Board of Elections chief of staff, said the board would consider issuing the rules as “numbered memos,” instructions to county elections boards that are less formal than rules. “We probably will discuss that if anything is deemed critical,” he said. Gov. Josh Stein sent the commission a letter Wednesday asking it to delay one of the rules for absentee ballots and the rules for throwing out ballots when members of local boards believe that voters are lying about why they don’t have photo ID.
The State Board of Elections delayed a decision on updated absentee ballot guidance for counties, pushing the issue to Friday. That’s the same day absentee ballots start going out for the November midterm election. “I think time is of the essence to get this worked out, hopefully by Friday, because the counties need time not only to process but to train their officials,” said Republican SBOE member Angela Hawkins. The SBOE is now considering whether it needs to update what are known as “numbered memos,” which provide guidance to counties regarding tweaks to internal election procedures. They had planned to take up that guidance Wednesday but said members and staff needed more time to review it and consult with attorneys.
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania lawmakers are proposing legislation to strengthen state voting protections and protect voters from “intimidation.” According to the memo, Pennsylvania already has legislation that prohibits law enforcement from being within 100 feet of a polling place on election day in Pennsylvania. The legislation, proposed by State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-181) and several other Democratic state lawmakers, would reinforce this legislation by explicitly stating that protections apply to all federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and agents. “Pennsylvania voters deserve to cast their ballots free from interference and intimidation,” the memo said. The bill has not yet been submitted for introduction.
Legal Updates
Federal Litigation: U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani halted — at least for now — attempts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting. The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections.Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks. The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision that allowed the administration to move ahead. The ruling August 27 came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision. The high court’s conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order, instead saying Talwani had acted too soon. “Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms,” Talwani wrote. The Administration filed a notice of appeal on August 28.
Alaska: The Alaska Supreme Court issued a fast-tracked ruling on August 27, affirming a lower court’s decision that the Alaska Division of Elections’ language for an elections overhaul ballot measure is “true and impartial,” but ordered the division to make one additional change. The Court issued the ruling days after hearing oral arguments from two groups of plaintiffs on opposing sides of the current ranked-choice voting system. The groups appealed a lower court’s ruling issued in June, challenging the language of Ballot Measure 2 as unclear, politically partisan and containing omissions they sought to change. Ballot Measure 2, which will appear on the ballot as 24ESEG, would repeal the state’s current ranked choice voting and open primary systems, as well as repeal campaign disclosure rules enacted by voters in 2020. The Supreme Court ruling affirmed a Superior Court’s finding that the Alaska Division of Elections’ fulfilled its legal duty in preparing the ballot measure title and summary in a “true and impartial” manner. But the justices identified one omission: the division must add language that explains if the measure is approved, and nonpartisan, open primaries are eliminated, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor would run for election separately.
Florida: The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging the federal government is illegally targeting non-U.S. born citizens to prevent them from exercising their legal right to vote. Filed against the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Attorney General Todd Blanche, the suit contends they are interfering with the right of individual states to conduct free and fair elections. Filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the CHIRLA complaint centers on a letter the Trump administration sent to California officials alleging that more than 190,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in the state. “Methodology for arriving at this figure has never been provided, and it is almost certainly widely incorrect,” the complaint says. “Naturalized citizens are Americans,” CHIRLA executive director Angelica Salas said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit in downtown Los Angeles. “They took the oath. They earned their citizenship, and they have the same rights as every other American citizen.”
Black Voters Matter Fund and the League of United Latin American Citizens filed a federal lawsuit, challenging Florida’s new law requiring proof of citizenship to vote. The law passed the Legislature this year on a near-party-line vote and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April. It goes into effect Jan. 1. The two groups are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Democracy Defenders Fund. “This is a political ploy to determine who wins our elections by picking who votes,” Tianna Mays, legal director for DDF, said in a news release. “This scheme targets Black and Brown communities by erecting barriers to voting for hundreds of thousands of eligible voters, including naturalized citizens and other Floridians who don’t have a passport.” The groups are asking the court to declare the law in violation of the National Voter Registration Act and the Fourteenth Amendment and permanently enjoin Byrd and the supervisors from implementing or enforcing the provisions the lawsuit challenges. Those include “conditioning federal voter registration on requirements prohibited by federal law, removing registered voters on unauthorized grounds or without constitutionally adequate procedures, conducting nonuniform or discriminatory list maintenance, or conducting systematic voter removal activities during the 90 days preceding a federal primary or general election.”
Hawaii: The Hawai’i Supreme Court heard arguments this week over how tied elections are resolved. The high court pressed Hawaii’s elections chief over whether a literal drawing of names from a basket can decide who represents a Leeward Oahu district in the state Legislature after a primary election ended in an exact tie. State Representative Kanani Souza and challenger Sheila Medeiros each finished the Aug. 8 Republican primary for House District 43, covering Kapolei and Makakilo, with 842 votes. Because no Democrat ran for the seat, whoever wins the race wins the seat outright. Hawaii law requires the chief election officer to break legislative ties “by lot.” Each candidate’s name was printed on a slip of paper, sealed inside a small plastic capsule, placed in a woven lauhala box and shaken before an elections official pulled one without looking — Medeiros’ name was drawn, handing her the seat. Souza sued, challenging both the vote count and the tiebreaker’s legality. Two District 40 voters were mistakenly given District 43 ballots, an error discovered through the county’s daily reconciliation process. Because the ballots were commingled with the rest of the District 43 ballots, officials cannot determine which ones belonged to the two voters or how they voted. Justice Todd Eddins pressed Chief Election Officer Scott Nago on whether the office could simply remove the two ballots. “No,” Nago said. “Because of security secrecy reasons. We cannot tie a ballot back to a voter.”
Michigan: Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan, the campaign behind a proposed state constitutional amendment, has filed suit over a Michigan elections board decision that keeps it off the ballot. The measure would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to ensure a vote is counted. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers disagreed about whether to accept late proof that the campaign collected enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. A deadlock prevented the measure from advancing. Now, Americans for Citizen Voting has asked the state Supreme Court to help it out. “More than 700,000 Michiganders signed this petition. We have the signatures required to qualify, and we are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to ensure those voters are not silenced because the Board of State Canvassers failed to do its job,” campaign chair Paul Jacob said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. According to Michigan Public Radio, how the Michigan Supreme Court views the 48-hour rule could be key to deciding the case. The lawsuit argues the board’s duty to certify petitions trumps its authority to set procedural rules for itself. The complaint is also arguing the rejected affidavits should be accepted as well. Petition organizers filed an August 31 application for emergency injunction with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, after the state Supreme Court did not immediately intervene on a lawsuit the group filed August 27. The respondents to the petition, the Board Of State Canvassers, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Director of Elections Jonathan Brater, argue in their response that the process of a referendum like this is a state-created right as opposed to one guaranteed by the First Amendment. “Federal courts have previously recognized that such processes are not entitled to the same protection as the right to vote,” the state response continues. “To the contrary, many courts have held that private citizens lack a constitutional right to propose referenda or initiatives for any ballot, federal or state.” They also add that the relief requested by the sponsors — an injunction that would force the state to place the referendum on the November general election ballot — would be granting the applicants “all the relief they could ever recover for their claims,” but that the application does “little to justify such an unusual request, other than to repeat the number of signatures they gathered—without acknowledging or contending with the high number of signatures that were found to be invalid.” Ballots must be finalized by Sept. 4, leaving just two days for the nation’s high court to make a decision on whether to formally intervene and, if they do rule on the case, how they will proceed.
Minnesota: Republican Mike Lindell can’t move ahead with a recount of his loss in the governor’s race primary after Minnesota’s highest court turned back his lawsuit Saturday. In a six-page ruling signed by Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, the Supreme Court denied Lindell’s attempt to broaden the scope of a recount beyond what the secretary of state’s office laid out. Lindell missed a Monday deadline to formally request and pay for a recount of the Aug. 11 primary as he challenged the structure of the ballot review in court. Justices found that his legal claims to seek an expansive recount were without merit. Lindell wanted all 1.1 million ballots examined by hand and tallies for all candidates to be redone instead of just the ballots for him and GOP winner Lisa Demuth. Justices said the state-approved recount plan was within the law. “In other words, after all votes are sorted and counted, Lindell would know whether he is the winner over Demuth,” the justices said in their ruling. “And all ballots, in all piles, would be counted and subject to challenge.” The ruling effectively affirms Lindell’s 45,000-vote loss to Demuth, who will face DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar and the Green Party’s Steven Young in the November general election.
New Hampshire: A New Hampshire law and state directive preventing voters from using a student identification card to cast a ballot will remain in effect for next week’s primary election, a federal judge said. Judge Joseph N. Laplante, said that case law bars him from issuing a preliminary injunction that would affect a voting law so close to an election. However, whether the law should be in effect for the November midterms is an “open question,” he said, noting that he didn’t address the merits of the arguments for such relief. The amount of time between now and Nov. 3, and the fact that no voting for that election has started, “suggests the possibility of an orderly transition back to the previous voter identification laws is at least logistically feasible for that election, even if it would be difficult,” said Laplante, of the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire. The lawsuit was filed Aug 11 by the Coalition for Open Democracy. It said the law prohibiting the use of high school and college IDs to cast a ballot is unconstitutional, as well as Secretary of State David M. Scanlan’s April directive barring the use of the same IDs to register to vote. Laplante rejected Open Democracy’s arguments that blocking the law would “preserve the status quo,” as the law has been the “operative” one for all the primary election cycle. He also noted that the group waited 70 days after the law took effect to sue. “A party may not manufacture an emergency through its own delay and then invoke the resulting time pressure as a reason a court should excuse that delay or discount the disruption an injunction would cause,” Laplante wrote.
Oklahoma: Shonda Barnes, the Mansville city manager was arrested on felony voter registration fraud charges this week. The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office stated that Barnes was arrested at her home on a warrant charging her with 11 counts of false affidavit in voter registration. The arrest stemmed from an investigation that started in May after the Johnston County Election Board told the sheriff’s office about concerns over voter registration applications submitted from the Mannsville area. The registrations were submitted before the May voter registration deadline for the June primary election. The sheriff’s office said investigators found several applications had matching signatures that did not belong to the people who were registering to vote.
South Carolina: A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that South Carolina’s absentee voting law violates the U.S. Constitution, finding that the state’s different rules for younger and older voters run afoul of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by a group of South Carolina voters who challenged the state’s absentee voting system. Under current law, voters 65 and older can cast an absentee ballot by mail without providing a reason, while voters under 65 must meet specific eligibility requirements to vote absentee. In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel sided with the plaintiffs and reversed a lower court ruling that had dismissed the case. The appeals court determined the age-based distinction violates the Twenty-Sixth Amendment’s prohibition against abridging the right to vote on account of age. Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote that the state’s system gives older voters greater access to absentee voting than younger voters. “That means voting is harder for voters under age sixty-five than those age sixty-five and older, which constitutes an abridgement of the right to vote on the basis of age and contravenes the Twenty-Sixth Amendment.” The case now returns to federal district court, where a judge will decide how to remedy the constitutional violation. The appeals court said possible solutions include extending no-excuse absentee voting to voters under 65 or eliminating the no-excuse absentee voting privilege currently available to voters 65 and older.
Washington: Esperanza “Hope” Contreras, 53, a Pasco landlord is headed to three months in jail for filling out the ballots of former tenants to vote in the 2024 presidential election. Contreras cast the ballots that arrived in the mail and turned them in to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office. Her former tenants didn’t discover it until they tried to vote. Contreras previously pleaded guilty to four counts of voter violation, a felony. She owns an Opal Street building where the victims were renters. The charges carried up to a year in jail. Prosecutors and defense attorneys recommended a sentence of three months of work release from the Benton County jail. The Franklin County jail does not have a work release program. Judge Jackie Stam agreed with the recommendation and gave her until Oct. 8 to report to jail.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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