The Blockade Brief — July 22, 2026

A federal appeals court just gave Donald Trump's Postal Service the green light to hold up your mail ballot if your state won't hand over its voter rolls to his Justice Department. The D.C. Circuit paused a lower court order that had blocked the rule, buying Trump's Postmaster General time to finalize a plan he's already said out loud: USPS won't deliver ballots from states that don't comply. The rule isn't final, and it isn't law. But the clock is running toward November, and the court just handed Trump exactly what he wanted: more time.

Down in North Carolina, Republicans on the State Board of Elections just voted, party line, to make it easier to throw out your mail ballot too. Under the old rule, all five members of a county board had to agree before tossing a ballot over a voter ID dispute. Now a bare majority can do it. Democrat Jeff Carmon called the change what it is: a rule that feeds the lie that voter fraud is everywhere. It isn't. It never has been.

Same playbook, coast to coast. Make it harder to vote by mail. Make it easier to toss the ballots that do get mailed. Do it all in the name of “integrity” while the referees who are supposed to police elections get pushed out or ignored.

Abhi Rahman, Try and Stop Us Chief Spokesperson: “Trump's Postal Service wants the power to decide whose ballot gets delivered based on whether their state hands over voter data to his Justice Department. North Carolina Republicans just made it easier for a bare majority which they control to throw out a mail ballot instead of requiring agreement across party lines. Neither of these changes is about ‘election integrity.' Voter fraud is not a widespread problem in this country, and the people pushing these rules — the people who are trying to rig the game in their favor — know it. Elections here are secure, and eligible voters have a right to a ballot that counts.”

Try and Stop Us is an organization fighting to defend free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond. As Donald Trump and his allies work to rig the game and sow distrust in our elections because they can't win a fair fight, Try and Stop Us moves quickly to amplify the work of organizers and local leaders — helping their voices reach further, faster, as one unified story.