Try and Stop Us Digest — July 29, 2026
Your daily brief on the fight for the vote: former CIA officials say a “declassified” document in Trump's speech may have been built to order, DHS ignores 150,000 rejected California ballots while raging over New Jersey, and a court hands Trump a technical win judges expect him to lose.
Voters should pick their leaders — not the other way around. We're here to make sure they do. Just try and stop us. Here's your daily brief on the fight for the vote.
Driving the News
Must Read
Former CIA Officials Say the White House May Have Ordered Up Fake Evidence for Trump's Election Speech
MS Now: Six former CIA officials are calling one of Trump's “declassified” documents weird, unfinished, and possibly built to order — with one asking point-blank: “Was this done to placate Trump?” The document, a three-page CIA note on China with its author and date redacted, is missing every standard accountability marker — no office, no serial number, no sourcing. The Steady State, a nonprofit of 400+ former national security officials, is calling for a congressional investigation, warning the note “has all the hallmarks of a memo built to serve the president's political needs.”
Trump Logic: One Illegal Vote in NJ Is a Crisis. 150,000 Rejected Legal Ballots in CA Is Silence.
Democracy Docket: DHS calls New Jersey's error a five-alarm scandal. California just tossed nearly 150,000 legitimately cast mail ballots — and got no investigation, no hearings, no outrage at all. “Just ONE illegal vote cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin declared over New Jersey's fewer-than-400 alleged illegal votes. By that logic, California's mass rejection of ballots — driven by USPS postmark delays and an overly strict signature-match process — should be a bigger scandal by a factor of 375. It wasn't. No federal probe. No subpoenas. Just silence.
Trump Technically Wins a Mail-Voting Ruling — From Judges Who Predicted He'll Lose Anyway
AP: A federal appeals panel declined to block Trump's mail-voting order on a technicality but wrote that it “may not prove feasible to implement in any manner whatsoever.” In a separate case from Saturday's 1st Circuit loss, a D.C. Circuit panel unanimously agreed that a challenge to Trump's mail ballot executive order was filed too early. But the same judges warned that if Trump actually tries to implement it before November, courts will likely stop him.
In the States
New Jersey: Sherrill Formally Tells DOJ “No Legal Basis” Exists for Its Demands
Democracy Docket: “This is what accountable government looks like,” Sherrill wrote. “We inherited a problem. We didn't hide it. We didn't deny it… That approach stands in stark contrast to how MAGA Republicans have responded to this issue.”
North Carolina: North Carolina Advances More Voter Suppression Measures
Raleigh News & Observer: The bill cuts primary early voting from 17 to 10 days, requires DMV to hand over residents' full Social Security numbers for “list maintenance,” and lets the GOP state auditor pick which counties get audited. Gov. Josh Stein has signaled he'll veto it.
What Experts Are Saying
Irving Joyner, NC NAACP: On the intent behind state laws restricting voting rights: “Recent laws are intended for the purpose of disenfranchising lawful citizens in this state who have the right to vote, but people in power don't want them to vote.” (NC Newsline)
Marc Elias, election lawyer and founder: On why the GOP's voter suppression tactics are one coordinated strategy: “The threat to free and fair elections is existential. Indeed, there is no more important fight happening in the courts right now than this one… The GOP is counting on exhaustion and resignation to do what persuasion cannot. We cannot give them either one.” (Democracy Docket)
Headlines
In the States
Florida Politics: RNC and Florida GOP intervene to defend state law requiring proof of citizenship to vote
Los Angeles Times: Voter ID backers sue California attorney general over ballot description
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