Try and Stop Us Digest — August 24, 2026

Must Read

The Postal Service Pushed Trump's Mail Voting Rule Through Friday Night Despite Two Court Orders Blocking It

Every state would have to load each mail ballot request into a federal portal before the ballot can enter the mail stream. ABC News / Democracy Docket: States would collect voters' names and home addresses, tie them to a unique barcode on every ballot, and submit them to what the Postal Service calls a federal ballot mail portal, and USPS says it will not deliver ballots for any state that doesn't comply. Voting rights groups went to court over the weekend arguing that issuing the rule at all violates the injunction already blocking it, and the Justice Department says it will oppose them.

Formerly Imprisoned Election Denier Tina Peters Spent Last Week In Washington Pitching Emergency Federal Control Of The Midterms

Two months out of prison, Peters met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division. CNN: She is pitching a plan to invoke emergency powers and assert federal control over elections before November, and the civil rights chief posted afterward that the two had enjoyed a lovely lunch on Capitol Hill. Colorado's attorney general, whose office prosecuted her for breaching her county's election systems, called it perverse for the Justice Department to celebrate a convicted felon who made elections less secure.

Nothing in her parole agreement stops her from going back to work running elections. Colorado Sun: Colorado corrections officials said there are no restrictions on the type of employment she may take, and the line in her parole order limiting who she can associate with is marked not applicable. A California county registrar wants to hire her as assistant registrar, which would require both states to approve transferring her parole, and California's two senators have asked the state to block it.

Trump's DOJ Hired A Lawyer Convicted Of Hacking Election Websites And Put Him Outside A Minneapolis Polling Place

David Levin pleaded guilty to breaking into Florida elections websites. He now appears to work in the division that enforces the nation's voting rights laws. Democracy Docket: Investigators said he pulled usernames and passwords off a county elections site and logged in as the elections supervisor; the felony charges were cut to misdemeanors and he served 20 days. He turned up in video from the Justice Department's monitoring of Minnesota's August primary, standing outside a Minneapolis polling place until an election judge checked his credentials and moved him back behind the 100-foot line.

DHS Found A Workaround For The Law That Protects Voters From Last-Minute Purges

On a private call with Nevada officials, Homeland Security said it has already done the systematic part, so states can start removing voters one at a time. Democracy Docket: Federal law bars systematic purge programs within 90 days of an election, but DHS says that because it ran the state's voter file against immigration records itself, what's left is an individualized process outside that window. On the same call it put its confirmed count at 185 potential noncitizens against the nearly 16,000 it had claimed publicly, and the data it later sent the state carried no names or addresses.

In The States

ARKANSAS — The state Supreme Court killed a ballot measure that would have stopped the legislature from overriding amendments voters pass. Democracy Docket: Organizers submitted 108,000 signatures against a threshold of about 91,000, but the secretary of state rejected nearly 20,000 petition pages because they carried the wrong version of the measure's title. The court dismissed the challenge in a one-page order without explaining its reasoning.

MINNESOTA — Mike Lindell has until the end of today to put up roughly $825,000 for the recount he demanded. CBS Minnesota / NBC News: The Secretary of State's office told him a full hand recount of the governor's race would cost about that much, and the request plus a bond has to reach the office today. Lindell lost the Aug. 11 Republican primary by about 45,000 votes and says he expects the total to run “upwards of $1 million.”

TEXAS — Galveston County redrew its precinct lines after the March primary, and an appeals court just let the new map stand for November. Democracy Docket: The court turned away the voters' emergency petition on procedural grounds without ruling on whether the switch is lawful. Some voters picked nominees under one set of lines in March and have now been moved into precincts holding no election at all this year.

What Experts Are Saying

A voting rights lawyer says a federal database of mail voters hands the administration the shape of the electorate. “...they would have a lot of power to shape the electorate.” — Jonathan Diaz, Director of Voting Advocacy, Campaign Legal Center, ABC News

The head of a group that defends harassed election officials doubts any county could legally put Tina Peters back in an elections office. “It's highly questionable that county officials could spend any taxpayer dollars on this.” — David Becker, Executive Director, Center for Election Innovation & Research, Colorado Sun

Headlines

Trump's Attacks on Voting

Democracy Docket: Democrats sue Trump DOJ for records on potential ballot seizures in midterms

The Guardian: Trump’s continued distrust in election integrity has experts eyeing his next move

Courts

Democracy Docket: 9th Circuit junks GOP lawsuit challenging Nevada's mail ballot grace period

Democracy Docket: Acting U.S. attorney was serving illegally when he subpoenaed Letitia James, appeals court rules

Democracy Docket: Right-wing group loses bid to block new trial in Colorado voter intimidation suit

Arkansas Advocate: Federal judge permanently blocks Arkansas laws restricting direct democracy process

The Midterms

The Guardian: From Arizona to Wisconsin, election deniers are vying for office nationwide

The Guardian: Top US firms that backed Voting Rights Act donate to groups working to undermine it

The New York Times: The Midterms Feel Like 2006 All Over Again

Axios: Tina Peters' comeback tests Polis' clemency gamble