5 ways Trump’s speech could undermine elections

Thursday, July 16

Hello, pro-democracy readers! President Donald Trump is making a primetime speech tonight, and he’s expected to use it to undermine free and fair elections. Here are five ways he might do that. Be sure to keep an eye on your inboxes and Democracy Docket’s website, as we’ll have live coverage of what he says.

Meanwhile, his Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to lose its voter roll crusade in court. And our research revealed that most of the judges who have denied the department’s lawsuits are Republican-appointed.

All that and more is on the docket today. See you tomorrow!

Andrew Wyrich, Newsletter Editor

Five ways Trump could use his primetime speech to undermine our elections

In just a few hours, Trump is expected to allege in a primetime address that foreign governments meddled with the 2020 presidential election, citing newly declassified intelligence information.
In reality, U.S. intelligence has concluded no foreign actor altered any aspect of the voting or vote-counting process, or even tried to. But election experts warn that Trump may try to use his false and misleading claims to crack down on the use of electronic voting machines.
Also: Reporter Yunior Rivas breaks down five ways that the speech may be less about proving what happened in 2020 than creating a justification for what Trump wants government officials to do for the 2026 midterms — and the next presidential election.

➤ 5 ways Trump’s speech could undermine elections

Most of Trump DOJ’s voter roll losses have come from GOP-appointed judges

We all know Trump’s DOJ has been consistently losing in its quest to get unfettered access to states’ voter rolls. But our researchers noticed that nine of the 15 losses — 60% — were handed down by Republican-appointed judges.
That makes it difficult for the DOJ to portray its perfect losing record as the product of liberal “activist” judges or hostile jurisdictions.

➤ Inside the numbers of the DOJ’s bad run

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JD Vance claims GOP will accept election results — before going back to the same old script

Vance briefly broke with Trump’s constant election fraud lies when he said Republicans would accept the results of the midterms regardless of who wins.
We’re going to remind him about that in November when Trump inevitably claims Democratic wins are illegitimate.

➤ What did JD Vance say?

Court blocks Kansas law disqualifying late-arriving mail ballots

In good news for voters, a Kansas judge today temporarily blocked a state law that would disqualify late-arriving mail ballots. It’s the first decision on the issue since the Supreme Court rejected a GOP challenge to grace periods for mail ballots arriving after Election Day.
The judge cited the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Watson v. Republican National Committee, and found the Kansas law likely violates voting rights protections in the state constitution.

➤ More context on the Kansas ruling

House Republicans relaunch SAVE America Act push

Another week, another attempt by House Republicans to try and ram through a version of Trump’s sweeping voter suppression law. This time, they are trying to enact the SAVE America Act through the Senate via the budget reconciliation process — which would avoid the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold.

➤ More on the Trump bill’s long odds

North Carolina’s GOP-controlled election board makes it easier to toss out votes

The state board today made it easier for GOP officials on local election boards to throw out votes.

➤ What you need to know in North Carolina

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

Any sporting event Trump crashes turns into a disaster. After inserting himself into the NBA Finals (where the New York Knicks lost when he attended), the U.S. men’s soccer team game (where he got a red card suspended) and now England’s loss yesterday in the World Cup (after he revealed that he once golfed with Harry Kane), everyone is now convinced there is a Trump sports curse. Three is a trend, as they say.
Trump’s teleprompter operator is believed to have made tens of thousands of dollars by placing bets on Kalshi before the president’s speeches, according to a new report.
Apparently Vance’s security detail is “fed up” with the vice president’s “inappropriate” use of government resources for his requests for travel, according to a new report from MS NOW. One instance? A military helicopter to fly his son to a golf lesson.
Speaking of Vance, he seems to think a lot about former President Joe Biden eating ice cream. Here’s a clip of him making a leap of logic that I’m sure none of you could have fathomed.