Try and Stop Us Digest — August 7, 2026

Bloomberg Law: A federal judge tossed DOJ's demand for DC's unredacted voter rolls, noting 20 other courts already reached the same conclusion. “Nothing in the text of Title III compels this strange and unharmonious reading of federal election law,” wrote Judge Randolph Moss. DOJ still has 10 cases pending, with a win rate of zero.

Democracy Docket: Restrict mail voting. Send armed agents to the polls. Seize the ballots. Purge the rolls. If Republicans still lose, pressure Congress to refuse to seat the winners. Trump has openly said he regrets not sending the National Guard to seize voting machines in 2020. His Homeland Security Secretary sees “no concern” with sending immigration agents to polling places. And under federal law, the final say on who gets seated in Congress belongs to whichever party already holds power when the new session convenes.

Democracy Docket: In court filings, Republicans have admitted they're suing to disenfranchise Americans abroad because these voters “overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates.” The RNC has filed at least eight lawsuits targeting citizens who vote based on a parent's or spouse's state residency — a right protected under federal overseas-voting law for decades. “It's part of an all-out attack on voting that we're seeing across the country,” said Martha McDevitt-Pugh of Democrats Abroad.

San Francisco Chronicle: Voter ID backers got caught making promises their own measure can't keep — and quietly dropped them rather than defend them in court. Prop 39's sponsors abandoned claims that their measure would make voting “easier,” protect privacy, and save the state millions — all rejected by a judge as false before they could even argue them. A second judge upheld language warning the measure “prohibits citizens from voting” without ID. Sponsor Carl DeMaio accused “liberal judges” of helping “corrupt politicians” rig the election. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said the ruling confirms “the real goal of the MAGA activists who wrote Prop 39 is to make it harder for Californians to vote.”

Votebeat: The Antrim County clerk at the center of a voter-purge controversy is cleared of criminal wrongdoing — but her troubles aren't over. Michigan's AG found no evidence Clerk Victoria Bishop's husband, a conservative radio host, accessed the state's voter file when left alone with her office computer — though the AG called the setup “a clear misstep from adequate practices.” A separate recall effort against Bishop is moving forward.

ABC News: The committee is holding eight public hearings — but Fair Fight Action's Amir Badat called it “putting lipstick on a pig,” warning it's “an effort to diminish Black political power” regardless of what the hearings produce. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state's lone Black member of Congress, is a likely target if the maps get redrawn.