The Trump administration is working hard to restrict voting ahead of the 2026 midterms. Here’s the latest:

• A new memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed that states will get citizenship lists weeks or months before voters can check for errors. More about the memo.
  
  
• Meanwhile, USPS has begun the process of creating a new records system to track mail ballots in response to Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order. What’s the USPS’ plan?
  
  
• This is all happening despite the fact that “no one really disagrees” that Trump’s executive order “is flagrantly unlawful,” Democrats argued in a recent filing asking a federal court to block it. What’s in their latest filing?
  
  
• On top of all that, a federal judge allowed legal challenges to Trump's executive order to proceed, ruling it would harm states' ability to carry out the midterms. Why the judge let the case continue.

➤ Inside the USPS plan to abide by Trump’s mail ballot order

What can you do to fight back against Trump’s mail voting order? Tell the USPS directly.

• “If this rule proposal stands as-is, the voters in those states that refuse to turn over the registration lists, they won’t be able to vote by mail,” our Reporter Jim Saksa warns in a new video breaking down Trump’s anti-mail voting order.
  
  
• Here’s what you can do to try to stop it.

➤ Watch the full video

Judges look likely to uphold Tennessee GOP’s racial gerrymander

• Federal judges today appeared skeptical of pro-voting groups’ arguments that Tennessee Republicans intentionally discriminated against Black voters through their recent aggressive gerrymander.
  
  
• The judges seem likely to deny a request for an injunction to pause the state GOP’s new congressional map.

➤ What to know from today’s court hearing

Arizona judges pause order giving election denier more control over Maricopa County elections

• Arizona judges have temporarily blocked a lower court’s order that took election duties away from the Board of Supervisors and assigned them to county Recorder Justin Heap, an election denier who has pushed conspiracy theories about voting.
  
  
• The struggle between Heap and the board threatened early voting drop box sites for the upcoming midterms.

➤ What does the emergency stay say?

To save American democracy, invest in state houses

• “The future of American democracy will not be decided in Washington. It will be decided in state capitols across the country,” Daniel Squadron, an author, former New York state senator and co-founder of The States Project, writes in a new op-ed. “These bodies are the original building blocks of our republic. And right now, they are its most critical line of defense.”

➤ Why state houses are important

More insight into why Georgia’s GOP walked away from redistricting

• Democracy Docket’s Founder Marc Elias and Legal Content Editor Ashley Cleaves break down the political climate surrounding why the GOP blinked and what it means for the fight ahead.

➤ Watch the full video

Here we share noteworthy briefs on all things voting rights and democracy. Have a footnote for us? Send it to newsletters@democracydocket.com.

• Apparently, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President J.D. Vance are among the many members of Trump’s cabinet who are eating a ton of sauerkraut.
  
  
• The latest development in the Reflecting Pool drama: Videos are going viral showing the brand-new paint peeling off.
  
  
• Georgia Rep. Mike Collins (R), the Trump-endorsed election denier who clinched the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, can be seen shooting a voting machine in an “unearthed video” shared by his competitor Sen. Jon Ossoff (D).