Fair Elections Alert: July 13, 2026

Election Assistance Commission Gutted. Trump Mail Voting Executive Order Blocked. FBI Surges Resources for 2020 Election Investigation.

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

“They will actually harm election security…These are radical changes to election processes.”– David Becker, Executive Director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research on changes to election procedure and FEMA grants”

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NOTABLE TRENDS

• Trump Fires Leadership of Key Federal Voting Assistance Commission: President Donald Trump Thursday dismissed all remaining commissioners on the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan federal agency created to help states administer elections. The move leaves the four-commissioner federal agency without leadership just months before the upcoming 2026 election, and raises immediate concerns about what, if anything, the EAC can do without commissioners.

  • The decision to purge the EAC marks the first major dismissals following a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that shattered decades of precedent and gave the president almost unlimited authority to fire officials at independent federal agencies.

• USPS Appeals Court Order Blocking Trump’s Anti-Mail Voting Executive Order: USPS has asked a federal court to pause its order blocking implementation of Trump’s EO against mail voting while it appeals the ruling. Notably, in a footnote, USPS admitted that DOJ attorneys had acknowledged the voter list may be underinclusive or inaccurate while attempting to argue those concerns are legally inconsequential.

• Trump Administration Moves to Reshape Federal Election Administration: The Trump administration is requiring states to transition to paper ballots, verify citizenship of voters, manual audits of 5 percent of ballots, and make other changes to election procedures; threatening to withholding 20 percent of terrorism-preparedness grants from FEMA’s $1 billion annual program unless states provide proof of compliance. Courts have already blocked similar efforts by the administration, saying the Constitution grants power over elections to states and not the executive branch.

  • Trump also fired all three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Thursday, effectively disabling the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration. The firings leave the EAC unable to take official action until new members are confirmed.

• Ballot Errors Prompts Investigation: An investigation found that 1,800 Louisville, Kentucky households may have received the wrong ballots during the May primary, in some cases preventing people from voting in local races for years. Officials attributed the errors to redistricting data mistakes in 2022, noting no malicious intent was involved and that similar errors occurred in Virginia and Georgia.

  • Meanwhile, Wisconsin Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys was placed on administrative leave Thursday amid investigations into duplicated ballots issued to voters ahead of the spring election and again for the upcoming August primary. This is the third time in four years the Wisconsin Elections Commission has found probable cause that Jeffreys violated election law.

• FBI & White House Taskforce Dig Into 2020 Election: The FBI is increasing resources in support of Director Kash Patel’s “priority” investigation related to the 2020 election in Georgia, authorizing overtime, including weekends and holidays, and pulling 260 FBI intelligence officials from field offices. Each of the intelligence analysts are expected to conduct a total of 708 records checks by July 17 to look for “derogatory information” and “associations between people” to “build a case.”

  • At the same time, White House task force is gathering thousands of pages of documents from U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with plans to declassify some of them to amplify claims of fraud about the 2020 election.

  • The task force includes right-wing commentator John Solomon and veterans of Trump’s first administration along with roughly a dozen staff members and lawyers who are reviewing information provided by agencies and departments.

• Vote By Mail Errors Strike Again: Arizona Pinal County officials launched an investigation for printing errors that resulted in incorrect ballots in two precincts. Officials “determined that the vendor for the Secretary of State’s voter registration database had pulled incorrect information.” They found 1,468 ballots had printing errors, and that the errors impacted only precinct committeeman races.

  • Meanwhile, the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin issued duplicate ballots for the second time this year. The error has once again drawn criticism from Republicans, who called for an investigation when the city made the same mistake back in April.

  • Republicans have long been skeptical of how Green Bay administers elections – especially after the city became the target of false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

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STATE ACTIVITY

• Arizona Supreme Court Unanimously Sided with Election Denier: The court unanimously sided with Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap in his ongoing dispute with the county board of supervisors over election duties. Heap, who as a legislator backed sweeping changes to state election law rooted in evidence-free fraud claims, now gains unfettered access to voter and IT databases under an interim plan by his attorney.

  • The ruling stops short of disrupting the ongoing primary but sets the stage for a significant shift in election authority toward an official with ties to the election denial movement.

• Florida Judge Orders DHS to Restore Four States’ Access to Immigration Database for Voter Citizenship Checks: Trump appointee U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II ordered DHS to restore access to the SAVE system for Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana to check voter citizenship status, despite a D.C.-based judge blocking its nationwide use.

  • The D.C. judge subsequently rejected the Trump administration’s request to pause her ruling, saying that Wetherell “erred in significant ways” and had no authority to make merits determinations about the database’s legality.

• Georgia’s State Election Board Passes Rule Seeking Access to “‘Bunker”’: The State Election Board voted 3-2 to pass a rule granting board members access to the Secretary of State’s election night reporting hub, dubbed the ‘bunker’ by conspiracy theorists who have accused Raffensperger of acting maliciously by refusing observers.

  • The rule was proposed by Salleigh Grubbs, a board member with ties to election denial efforts, and passed despite a warning from the attorney general’s office that it exceeds the board’s authority. Board member Caroly Roddy, who has supported Grubbs’ other measures, framed the push as a transparency measure.

• Louisiana’s Republican Voters Outnumber Democrats, Possibly Due to Inconsistent Voter List Maintenance Practices Across Parties: As of July 1st, Republican voters officially outnumber Democrats for the first time in state history. Over the past 12 months, Republicans gained nearly 15,000 voters while Democrats lost more than 33,000.

  • The Louisiana Democratic Party has questioned whether the voter list maintenance procedures are being applied consistently across parties as Democratic voters have been declared inactive at a 10:1 rate over Republicans.

  • However, the SOS’ office stated that although nearly half-million voters were identified as inactive, none have been removed from the rolls.

• NC State House Passes Omnibus Anti-Voting Bill: A divided North Carolina House passed an HB 958 that clears a path for more voter challenges, election audits, and registration removals. Most notably, State Auditor Dave Boliek (R), who gained oversight of elections after a 2024 law shifted appointment power from the governor to the state auditor, would be able to conduct post-election audits in randomly chosen counties. Critics note he could end up auditing his own re-election results.

  • The bill also allows the State Board of Election to bypass Attorney General Jeff Jackson (D) by hiring private attorneys, and removes the requirement that election lawsuits be heard in Wake County – a change Democrats warn could enable venue shopping.

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ANTI-VOTING GROUP ACTIVITY

• Republican National Committee Expands Litigation Efforts: The RNC says it is now engaged in 160 lawsuits across 36 states over election issues, on pace to be the most litigation in the committee’s history. Last week, the RNC targeted three states in an effort to restrict voting access for U.S. citizens living abroad.

  • This week, New Jersey was also sued for the so-called “never-resident” voters – U.S. citizens born and living abroad who inherit voting rights from their parents or guardians.

• EIN, AFPI, RNC & Other Orgs Pushed for Anti-Voting Legislation, Including the SAVE America Act, In Response to the Watson Decision: Multiple anti-voting organizations, including the Election Integrity Network, America First Policy Institute, Republican National Committee, and Tea Party Patriots, amped up their calls for the SAVE America Act’s passage after the US Supreme Court decided states can accept mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after.

  • The Election Integrity Network also pushed their Model Election Laws as the “antidote” for state legislators to use.

• Republican National Committee Sued Three States Over Overseas Voter Policy: In less than a week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) sued Nebraska and Colorado, with Nevada as the latest escalation, in an effort to restrict voting access for U.S. citizens abroad. The GOP’s suit targets so-called “never-resident” voters – U.S. citizens born and living abroad who inherit voting rights from their parents or guardians.

  • Republicans argue the state’s constitution requires voters to have resided in the state before casting a ballot.

  • The RNC has now filed overseas voter lawsuits in Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Virginia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Michigan.

Paid for by Fair Fight Action.