THE BLOCKADE BRIEF: September 23, 2026

THIS WEEK’S BLOCKADES

Trump Orders a Prosecution Blitz Six Weeks Before Election Day

With six weeks until the midterms, Trump’s Justice Department is turning its noncitizen voter hoax into a campaign of arrests. Officials call prosecutions a “tier one priority” that will rise every week through November, with staff pulled off smuggling and trafficking cases to go on wild goose chases. Prosecutors who resist are on notice: a top DOJ official warned they could be fired for declining to pursue fraud cases handed to them by the FBI or DHS. And the results so far have been pathetic. DOJ’s big announcement this week was 16 measly charges spanning nearly two decades of elections.

North Carolina Voters Take Republicans to Court Over Last-Minute Ballot Rules

The North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Down Home North Carolina, and two voters sued the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections Tuesday over absentee rules it rammed through hours before ballots went out. The rules force counties to toss ballots with an unsealed inner envelope even when the package is sealed, and impose signature checks with no standards. A board member estimated 3% of ballots could be discarded, roughly 9,000 votes. The board answers to State Auditor Dave Boliek, the only state auditor in the country with authority over elections.

The RNC Loves Mail Voting When Republicans Use It

The RNC has spent six years suing over mail-voting deadlines, overseas voting, and permanent absentee laws, and it keeps losing. It lost its challenge to New York’s early absentee voting law, and the Supreme Court rejected its bid to toss mail ballots arriving after Election Day. Now the party is emailing Pennsylvania voters to urge them to vote by mail and running a website telling supporters to “request your mail-in ballot now,” complete with New York’s absentee deadlines. Campaign Legal Center’s Jonathan Diaz said it proves the arguments against mail voting are “hypocritical and entirely made up.”

MALLY SMITH, Try And Stop Us Spokesperson:

“Trump is threatening to fire prosecutors who won’t chase his fantasies and cheering on North Carolina Republicans as they rewrite the rules after ballots already went out. Meanwhile, the RNC is begging Republicans to vote by mail while suing to take that option away from everyone else. They can’t win a fair fight, so they want you scared, confused, and home on Election Day. Don’t give them that. Mail voting is safe, registering is simple, and no eligible voter can be turned away. In six weeks, voters make their voices heard, and there’s nothing Trump and MAGA Republicans can do about it.”