What Democrats keep getting wrong (Ft. Brian Tyler Cohen)

• Marc sits down with Brian Tyler Cohen to discuss his new book, "The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World," which makes the case that Democrats need to fight harder and prioritize outcomes over institutional deference.
  
  
• They also break down the Supreme Court's latest term, the blueprint for beating President Donald Trump, and why clinging to norms — like the filibuster — risks squandering a rare chance to win back disillusioned voters.

➤ Watch the full video

The biggest obstacle to the Trump DOJ’s election monitors? The right’s long attack on federal oversight

• While the Department of Justice has said election monitors will be sent to monitor upcoming primaries in multiple Democratic strongholds to root out illegal voting, that isn’t even remotely what they’ll be doing. And the reason is deeply ironic.
  
  
• For years, conservatives have sought to weaken the federal government's ability to monitor elections, meaning monitors today are limited in what they can do. Republicans’ sudden about-face under Trump has raised eyebrows, voting experts told Democracy Docket.

➤ Why Republican history makes their latest push hypocritical

Speaking of election monitoring… Georgia Board seeks access to off-limits election area

• The state’s election board appealed a state court’s decision in June to dismiss its lawsuit that sought access to Georgia’s “Election Night Reporting Room.”
  
  
• A judge had previously ruled that because no votes are counted at the site, poll watchers are not required to receive access like they would in polling places.

➤ Read the latest in Georgia

State voter registration lists largely accurate and up-to-date, new research shows

• The Trump administration and its right-wing, anti-voting allies regularly allege that voter fraud is a widespread reality that enjoys overt support from Democrats. Not shockingly, virtually all the evidence suggests the contrary.
  
  
• New research indicates that state voter registration lists — a common administration target — are actually accurate and up to date. And both blue and red states are largely doing a good job maintaining their lists.

➤ How a new report contradicts Republicans’ false claims

Court blocks right-wing effort to rig Census count

• In a win for underrepresented voters in Florida, a court dismissed an anti-voting lawsuit challenging the methodology used in the 2020 Census — which plaintiffs argued disadvantaged Republicans in the state.
  
  
• While the U.S. Supreme Court must now weigh in on the case, the ruling will likely stand.

➤ More context on the judges’ decision

ICYMI: DHS citizenship database must remain suspended, judge rules in scathing opinion

• A federal judge denied the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) request to pause her order shutting down use of its modified Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system to certify registered voters’ citizenship status.
  
  
• In a blistering 23-page opinion, the judge berated the federal government’s attorneys for failing to notify her about a related case in Florida.

➤ More on the judge’s opinion

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

• The former Olympian charged with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has pleaded not guilty. He was charged amid a litany of Trump-led debacles the renovated pool faced (remember the algae?). His lawyers say the charges were part of a “concocted narrative” that “should be alarming to every American.”
  
  
• Tennessee gubernatorial hopeful and Trump ally Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) was widely condemned for her new ad where she promised to “crack down on China” while crushing fortune cookies. One report called the ad “sickening,” while others have called it “racist.”
  
  
• Trump can’t seem to stop referring to TikTok as “Tic Tac.” It just keeps happening.
  
  
• The “Sen. McDreamy” to replace Graham Platner dream is dead. Grey’s Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey poured cold water on the idea of him stepping into the state’s Senate race as the Democratic nominee following Platner’s exit.
  
  
• Can anyone tell me what a “DEI bike lane” is? Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is taking a victory lap over getting rid of them… and I have no idea how to even respond to that.