Try and Stop Us Digest — August 26, 2026

Must Read

A Federal Judge Found Trump’s Postal Service Violated Her Order Blocking Mail Ballot Rules.

A federal judge ruled the administration broke her injunction by finalizing the mail ballot rules, which were set to take effect today. The Washington Post: The administration argued it was in the clear because the rules stated the Postal Service would not implement them for November unless her order was lifted, and the judge wrote that those arguments “ignore the court's explicit directive not to ‘initiat[e] or complet[e]' rulemaking.” She imposed no sanction, saying it would not change the legal posture of the case because her injunction already blocks the rules from taking effect.

Trump's Election Demands Now Come With A Threat To Defund State & Local Police

Cities and counties are suing after the administration moved to withhold anti-terrorism and public safety money unless they rewrite their voting rules. Axios: Harris County, Texas, joined Columbus, Nashville and El Paso County last week in suing Homeland Security, and the price of keeping the grants is a list of changes that includes converting to paper ballots, proof-of-citizenship verification and mandatory hand-counted audits of 5% of all ballots. Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin said “they are trying to defund public safety and counterterrorism,” and El Paso County's attorney put the cost of switching to paper ballots alone at $3 million.

Trump’s DHS Now Admits The Noncitizen Numbers It Publicized Were Inflated

The department told Nevada it was confident about 185 voters, after announcing nearly 16,000 there and more than 250,000 across four states. NPR: Records and a recording obtained by NPR show federal officials calling the original figure a ceiling that still required manual review, then refusing Nevada's request for the names, birthdates and addresses behind the 185, and handing over a second list of more than 6,000 matches nobody had reviewed. Pennsylvania had a similar call and has never received a shortened list at all, while a USCIS official told Nevada the agency was discussing moving 40 additional staff onto “nothing but this.”

In The States

ARIZONA — Hundreds of thousands of voters could be dropped from the state's automatic mail ballot list starting in 2027. Votebeat: A 2021 law signed by former Gov. Doug Ducey requires county recorders to remove voters who go two consecutive election cycles without returning a mail ballot, so anyone who skipped mail voting in 2023, 2024 and 2025 is at risk if they skip it again this November, even if they voted in person. A Brennan Center study found roughly 340,000 Arizonans would have qualified for removal in 2021, about 12% of the list, with nonwhite voters at higher risk.

ARIZONA — The state's Clean Elections Commission may claw back $4.7 million from three candidates it says faked the small-dollar donations that unlocked their public funding. Arizona Mirror: The commission's executive director told a Green Party candidate for governor, a Green Party candidate for secretary of state and a Republican candidate for governor to expect repayment orders, after finding each campaign deposited a lump sum matching its reported $5 contributions on or just before the day it applied for funds, which he called “a level of suspicious activity well beyond what I have witnessed in 16 years.” The Arizona Green Party has accused the two Green candidates of being Republicans in disguise, running to pull votes away from Gov. Katie Hobbs.

TRIBAL COMMUNITIES — New federal data shows Native voters getting blocked at every stage, from registration through the counting of ballots. Native American Rights Fund: In counties where Native Americans are at least a quarter of the population, rejections of voter registration applications by mail and at motor vehicle offices skyrocketed by 200% on average, a sharp contrast to the nationwide decline, while rejections of mail-in ballots due to timing issues surged 134% from 2020 to 2024, far outpacing the 55% national increase. The report reads that gap as evidence that postal network disruptions hit Indian Country hardest, and it lands as the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act strips away the main tool for challenging discriminatory practices.

OHIO — A federal judge blocked the state's proof-of-citizenship requirement at motor vehicle offices, weeks before the Oct. 5 registration deadline. The Hill: Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. found the requirement likely conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act because a signed attestation of citizenship is the minimum information needed to assess eligibility, and separately found the state was unlawfully offering registration only to people who successfully obtained a license. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said he strongly disagreed and would appeal immediately.

SOUTH DAKOTA — Voting rights groups sued Monday over how the state is running its new proof-of-citizenship law, not over the law itself. Democracy Docket: The League of Women Voters of South Dakota and a Sioux Falls voter argue that confusing notices, an in-person documentation rule and the absence of any meaningful way to fix a registration problem are putting eligible voters at risk. The voter mailed a photocopy of his state ID, was placed in a federal-only category without being told why, got a letter blaming an address error instead, and could not vote in the June 2 primary.

What Experts Are Saying

The attorney behind the new Native voting report says the barriers compound because casting a ballot is never one step. “Voting is not a singular act, it's a sequential process.” — Allison Neswood, Senior Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund, Native American Rights Fund

A county clerk running for Colorado secretary of state says the confusion does damage even if the courts throw the order out entirely. “...it will have a suppressive effect and that people will stay home.” — Amanda Gonzalez, Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder, Colorado Public Radio

Headlines

Trump's Attacks on Voting

Democracy Docket: Democrats renew bid to block Trump's ‘unlawful' anti-mail voting order

Maine Public: Maine's top elections official says it's ‘business as usual' despite Supreme Court ruling

Colorado Public Radio: Colorado's top election official said fight over mail ballots not over

In The States

Votebeat: Elon Musk won't face criminal charges over $1 million offers to Wisconsin voters

Votebeat: Michigan board does not put proof-of-citizenship amendment on November ballot

The Midterms

The Daily Beast: Trump Reveals Secret Weapon to Save GOP From Midterm Wipeout

The Wall Street Journal: What Darline Graham's Runoff Win Means for November