Try and Stop Us Digest — August 28, 2026

Must Read

A Federal Judge Blocked Trump’s Mail Ballot Rule Again, Three Days After The Supreme Court Cleared It

Judge Indira Talwani issued a 14-day restraining order Thursday night barring the Postal Service from enforcing the core of its new rule through Election Day. Democracy Docket: The blocked provisions are the ones that do the work, including mandatory ballot envelope and return envelope standards, registration in the USPS portal, voter enrollment requirements and the rules that would let the agency reject ballot mail outright. She found the states and voting rights groups likely to succeed in showing the Postal Service lacked authority to issue the rule at all, and wrote that “the record continues to lack any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting.”

She got there using the Supreme Court’s own reasoning from Monday. NBC News / CNN: The justices lifted her earlier injunction on the ground that courts review final rules rather than proposals, so once the Postal Service published its final rule in the Federal Register on Wednesday, she held that the challenges had become ripe. The order covers both the League of Women Voters case and the states’ case and restores a nationwide block one day after she lifted her own, with a Sept. 3 hearing set on whether to make it last.

Trump Is Pulling Every Lever To Reshape How Americans Vote

Voting rights experts say even the measures that lose in court still do their work, by leaving confusion behind them. Axios: The effort leaves virtually no part of the election system untouched, and experts say the sheer volume is designed to sow confusion, deter turnout and undermine trust before Election Day. Homeland Security is compiling citizenship lists that advocates say wrongly flag eligible voters and has admitted its noncitizen figures were inflated, the Justice Department has sued most states for unredacted voter rolls and lost 23 of those cases, and Trump is still demanding Congress pass the SAVE America Act.

Republican Candidates In Three States Want Law Enforcement At The Polls In November

Leaked audio has now caught nominees in Maine, Michigan and Georgia proposing to put armed officers at polling places. Democracy Docket: Maine’s Republican nominee for governor, Bobby Charles, said he plans to call Trump’s border czar three or four weeks before Election Day to ask for ICE agents and U.S. Marshals at voting booths. Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers was recorded saying he wanted retired or off-duty police as poll watchers who could open a jacket to show a badge and “intimidate” voters, and Georgia’s Rick Jackson said Gov. Brian Kemp would call up the National Guard; federal law bars troops and armed agents from polling sites outside narrow exceptions.

In The States

WYOMING — The Republican governor asked his attorney general to investigate how Justice Department monitors behaved during last week’s primary. NBC News / NOTUS: Mark Gordon told the state canvassing board the observers were aggressive and irregular, that state and local officials had not been told in advance, and that their behavior seemed to exceed the authority Congress gave them, while adding he was not objecting to observers and thought the election itself was run well. The Laramie County clerk said the monitors asked for training guides, questioned how the county acquired its election equipment and wanted to examine its tabulators, and that she refused their requests to interview voters.

What Experts Are Saying

The head of Fair Fight says a governor can use the National Guard for cybersecurity and logistics, but not for this. “...sending Guard members to polling sites would break sharply with precedent.” — Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO, Fair Fight, Democracy Docket

The Republican clerk who hosted the federal monitors in Wyoming was blunt about how it went. “...a poorly managed exercise and one that showed complete disregard for our state laws.” — Debra Lee, Laramie County Clerk, NBC News

Headlines

Trump’s Attacks on Voting

Politico: Judge blocks Trump’s mail-in voting plan, again

Chicago Sun-Times: Trump, his lackeys will try to steal 2026 elections

Congress

NPR: How Democrats in Congress are preparing for Trump midterm election interference

In The States

The New York Times: Wyoming Governor Objects to “Very Odd” D.O.J. Election Monitoring