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USPS says mail-in ballots might not get postmark on same day they’re dropped off
The U.S. Postal Service has adopted a new rule that could create doubt about whether some ballots mailed by voters by Election Day will receive postmarks in time to be counted. A USPS rule that took effect on Dec. 24 says mail might not receive a postmark on the same day the agency takes possession […]
As Supreme Court pulls back on gerrymandering, state courts may decide fate of maps
After Missouri lawmakers passed a gerrymandered congressional map this fall, opponents submitted more than 300,000 signatures seeking to force a statewide vote on whether to overturn the map. But Republican state officials say they will use the map in the meantime. Missouri courts now appear likely to weigh in. “If we need to continue to […]
Trump’s DOJ offers states confidential deal to remove voters flagged by feds
The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a confidential draft agreement to more than a dozen states that would require election officials to remove any alleged ineligible voters identified during a federal review of their voter rolls. The agreement — called a memorandum of understanding, or MOU — would hand the federal government a major […]
Republicans could gain nearly 200 state legislative seats in voting rights case, report finds
Republicans could gain nearly 200 state legislative seats across the South if the U.S. Supreme Court guts a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, a new analysis finds. The bulk of the gains would be concentrated in 10 GOP-controlled state legislatures in Southern states, according to the analysis, produced by Fair Fight Action, […]
Republicans in Congress eye more power for states to remove voters
Republicans in Congress want to give states more authority to remove ineligible voters — including noncitizens and people who have moved or died — from voter rolls, seeking to reinforce the Trump administration’s own push to scrub the lists. At a U.S. House hearing on Wednesday, lawmakers weighed changing a landmark federal voter registration law, […]
Voting by mail faces uncertain moment ahead of midterm elections
Derrin Robinson has worked in Oregon elections for more than 30 years, long enough to remember when voters in the state cast their ballots at physical polling sites instead of by mail. As the nonpartisan clerk of Harney County, a vast, rural expanse larger than Massachusetts, Robinson oversees elections with about 6,000 registered voters. Oregon […]
Justice Department sues 6 more states for voter lists
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday expanded its legal campaign to force states to turn over voter lists containing sensitive personal information, suing six more states that have refused to provide the data. The Justice Department has now sued officials in more than a dozen states for the voter lists, following a first round […]
4 Republican states will help Homeland Security obtain driver’s license records
Four Republican states have agreed to help the Trump administration gain access to state driver’s license data through a nationwide law enforcement computer network as part of the administration’s hunt for alleged noncitizen voters. The Trump administration said as recently as October that federal officials wanted to obtain driver’s license records through the network. The […]
Homeland Security wants state driver’s license data for sweeping citizenship program
The Trump administration wants access to state driver’s license data on millions of U.S. residents as it builds a powerful citizenship verification program amid its clampdown on voter fraud and illegal immigration. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeks access to an obscure computer network used by law enforcement agencies, according to a federal notice, […]
ICE courthouse arrests meet resistance from Democratic states
A day after President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a new directive to its agents: Arrests at courthouses, restricted under the Biden administration, were again permissible. In Connecticut, a group of observers who keep watch on ICE activity in and around Stamford Superior Court have since witnessed a series of […]
The midterm ballot measure battles have already begun
When Missouri Republican lawmakers approved a new district map in September to help their party in Congress, progressive activist Richard von Glahn was ready. Hours after the state legislature passed the gerrymandered map, von Glahn had submitted a proposed ballot petition to put it to the voters. It would be more than a month before […]
Some public universities report fewer international students amid Trump restrictions
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before Abhinav Kochar traveled from India to the United States to study computer science in late 2023, a consular official interviewed him at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. It’s in a scene repeated countless times around the world each year as foreign students seek access to American higher education. The […]
