Welcome to Fair Elections Alert, your rundown of key attacks against voting rights and independent elections across the country over the past week. It’s a way to keep up with what the opponents of democracy are focused on. We’ll highlight critical updates you need to be aware of, with a spotlight on the South, the original frontline in the fight for voting rights.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I think they’re attempting to create this idea that these corrections are unusual, widespread or significant in a way that people should be concerned. I don’t share that sentiment.” – New Mexico State Elections Director Mandy Vigil regarding Public Interest Legal Foundation’s lawsuit over voter death error records
NOTABLE TRENDS
Trump Pressures Senate to Cancel Recess Until SAVE Act Passes: Trump demanded Senate Majority Leader John Thune cancel the chamber’s August recess until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, and renewed calls to eliminate the filibuster. Republicans hold only a 53-47 majority and lack the votes to advance the bill or change Senate rules, although some GOP senators have said they would support canceling the recess.
Federal Appeals Court Backs Trump’s Mail Voting Order: The U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. upheld a lower court ruling that a lawsuit challenging Trump’s mail voting executive order was premature, as the administration has not yet fully implemented it. The ruling contrasts with the First Circuit, which held over the weekends that states’ challenges were timely.
Undelivered Mail Ballots Strikes Again: More than 1,300 mail-in-ballots in Navajo County Arizona were marked undeliverable before Arizona’s primary, prompting former state Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda to personally text Trump about the issue. State and federal officials are investigating, with the county recorder pointing to a possible misunderstanding about unpaid postage bills as a factor.
STATE ACTIVITY
New Jersey • State Weighs Broader IDEMIA Contract Cuts Amid Voter Registration Error: New Jersey has paid IDEMIA approx. $61 million across three contracts, but Gov. Sherrill’s office has so far only moved to terminate the company’s Motor Vehicle Commission contract following the registration error that saw 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote. Republicans are calling for a broader bipartisan legislative investigation, with one assemblywoman arguing it makes no sense to target only the DMV contract while others remain intact.
North Carolina • State Auditor’s Office Faces Bad Faith Accusations as Senate Advances Controversial Election Bill: American Oversight, a nonprofit watch dog, says the state auditor’s office failed to produce text messages from former elections liaison Dallas Woodhouse, whose texts directing county boards on early voting plans were already reported by news outlets. The auditor’s office claims it can no longer access records on Woodhouse’s personal devices since his resignation, a position the group called “bad faith” given the office knew about the texts since June 6.
Meanwhile, the state Senate advanced a scaled-back version of HB 958 while keeping its most contentious provisions: vetting voter rolls against the SAVE database, post-election audits by the same auditor’s office now under scrutiny, and the ability to challenge early voters’ ballots up to three days after an election.
The Senate also added a significant new provision cutting the early voting period from 17 to 10 days for primaries, runoffs, and special elections.
ANTI-VOTING GROUP ACTIVITY
New Mexico Agrees to Release Voter Death Error Records Following Lawsuit: New Mexico’s Secretary of State agreed to release records related to voters erroneously labeled as deceased, following a lawsuit from the Public Interest Legal Foundation. The settlement requires the state to maintain deceased retraction records for at least two years and release them upon request. The foundation has filed similar lawsuits in Arizona and Oregon over records tied to ERIC, which notifies states of voter deaths through federal Social Security data.
The Brennan Center for Justice characterized the foundation as a critic of ERIC and “long a promoter of misleading claims about the breadth of errors on voting rolls.”
The Brennan Center also noted the so-called “election integrity” organizations have targeted ERIC in legal challenges intended to destroy it and “replace it with something weaker.”
RNC Ongoing Challenge With States Over Overseas Voter Law: The RNC is challenging Nebraska and several other states over laws that allow overseas “never-resident” voters to register, despite Nebraska data showing only 116 such voters are currently registered and turnout among them has ranged from just 0.001% to 0.007% of all votes cast.
The Nebraska RNC argues the law dilutes Republican votes. A hearing on the state’s motion to expedite the case is set for August 6.
EIN Expands to California with New State Partner: The Election Integrity Network (EIN) has added California’s Election Integrity Project as its newest state partner, expanding its national coalition pushing for proof of citizenship requirements, strict voter ID, and post-election audits while opposing ranked-choice voting.
The expansion into California signals a broader push to build permanent election restriction infrastructure in states beyond Republican strongholds.
We must remember that overwhelming numbers are our greatest asset. Live, breathing voters submitting their votes in person. Use paper ballots only in extreme circumstances. Republicans are counting on challenging or destroying paper ballots. Republicans are desperate because they know they are wrong. It's their policies that are causing so much pain. They have the money to provide the media lies to confuse the process; we have the people to win our freedom. Historic times call for a historic effort. Don't be fooled by the convenience of a simple task when the outcome is so important. A mass of people is visual and an indication of a beleaguered country.