Trump Takes Vote-by-Mail Restrictions to the Supreme Court, ICE Widens its Reach in the States, and the DNC Questions Ranked-Choice Voting

Jul 31, 2026

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a close up of a piece of paper on a flag — Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash

It’s Friday, July 31, 2026, and time for your Democracy in the States’ Weekly Roundup.

Three months after a gunman disrupted the original even, Trump returned to the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner Friday night for an insult-filled speech, taking aim at journalists including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins even as the Justice Department had withdrawn its subpoenas against New York Times reporters just a day earlier. Outgoing White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang framed the evening as “a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy.” While the term “celebration” seems like a stretch, the dinner did provide a timely reminder of the important work our key institutions are doing to protect our systems of government.

Which is a fitting frame for the same pattern playing out in the states this week, as Trump’s Justice Department kept demanding voter roll data even as courts kept ruling against it, and the administration took its fight against mail voting all the way to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.

We’re covering these developments and more state-level changes to mail voting, voter data, election reform, immigration enforcement, campus governance, and the data center boom below.

Trump Takes Mail Ballots to the Supreme Court

The fight over mail voting reached the Supreme Court’s shadow docket this week. After losing in federal appeals court, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let the president’s executive order restricting vote-by-mail take effect while litigation continues. At least a dozen Republican-led states have since joined that request. In a separate, state-level case, Kansas’s Supreme Court declined to intervene in a fight over the state’s own mail-ballot grace period, leaving a lower-court win for voters in place, and Iowa Republicans pushed their own effort to make it easier to reject absentee ballots.

NATIONAL: After losing in appeals court, Trump asks Supreme Court to uphold his order targeting mail-in voting (Nevada Current).
NATIONAL: GOP states join DOJ in asking Supreme Court to let Trump block some mail ballots (Democracy Docket).
KANSAS: Kansas Supreme Court declines to take emergency appeal of election law (Kansas Reflector).
IOWA: Republican lawsuit renews Iowa battle over absentee voter verification (Des Moines Register).

The Fight to Open Primaries

Independent Voter News provides an update on lawsuits moving in eight states, questioning whether independent voters can be barred from primary elections. Meanwhile, New York voters are pushing to open up Albany’s closed primaries, and military veterans in South Carolina are defending the state’s open-primary system in court. And, if this topic matters to you, don’t miss the next Renovator Assembly, a conversation for paid subscribers on Thursday, August 6, at 7 p.m. ET, with Lisa Rice. Details below!

NATIONAL: The Supreme Court will Need to Answer this Question, Sometime Soon (Independent Voter News).
NEW YORK: New Yorkers Say Albany Is Broken — and Want Open Primaries and Fairer Ballot Access (Independent Voter News).
SOUTH CAROLINA: Veterans Step Into South Carolina Open-Primary Lawsuit to Defend Voters’ Freedom to Participate (Veterans for All Voters).

DOJ’s Voter Roll Purge Keeps Hitting Dead Ends

Trump’s Justice Department continued demanding states hand over sensitive voter data this week even as his use of that data is further called into question. VoteBeat traced the number Trump has been stating (250,000 noncitizens supposedly registered) and noted serious flaws showing that the number “will absolutely fall apart under any scrutiny.” A federal judge separately dismissed DOJ’s lawsuit seeking New Jersey’s voter rolls, while California and Pennsylvania pushed back on the underlying data. In North Carolina, meanwhile, the state Senate advanced its own elections bill that would shrink early voting and make it easier to purge voters from the rolls.

NATIONAL: The noncitizen voter mystery: New Trump numbers raise more questions than answers (VoteBeat).
NEW JERSEY: Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit seeking NJ voter data (New Jersey Monitor).
TEXAS: Texas confirms some flagged as potential noncitizens on voter rolls had provided DPS proof of citizenship (VoteBeat).
CALIFORNIA: ‘Serious doubts about the reliability of your data’: California bluntly challenges DHS over sweeping noncitizen voter claims (Democracy Docket).
PENNSYLVANIA: Pennsylvania asks Trump admin how it identified potential noncitizens registered to vote (VoteBeat).
ALASKA, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, NEBRASKA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW JERSEY, OHIO, OREGON, NEW MEXICO, SOUTH DAKOTA, WEST VIRGINIA, and PENNSYLVANIA: Flap over noncitizens on state voter rolls seen as unlikely to boost SAVE America Act (States Newsroom).
NEW JERSEY: NJ culls some improper voter registrations, sends others to counties for review (New Jersey Monitor).
NEW MEXICO: New Mexico Secretary of State agrees to turn over voter death error records following lawsuit (Source New Mexico).
NORTH CAROLINA: NC voting rights groups say they’ll increase efforts to help voters overcome obstacles (North Carolina Newsline).
NORTH CAROLINA: NC Senate approves controversial elections bill along party lines (North Carolina Newsline).

Ballot Reform & Direct Democracy Under Pressure

Reformers spent the week playing defense in a few different places. The Democratic National Committee is weighing a rule that could bar Maine, and eventually other states, from using ranked-choice voting in the 2028 presidential primary, even where voters approved it directly. Alaskans will decide the fate of their own ranked-choice system at the ballot box this cycle, and a federal appeals court appeared open to Maine’s limits on super PAC contributions.

NATIONAL: DNC Could Ban Ranked Choice Voting in 2028 — Even Where Voters Made It Law (Independent Voter News).
ALASKA: Alaskans to vote on ballot measure that would overhaul state election system (Alaska Beacon).
ALASKA: Ballot Measure 1, on the Aug. 18 statewide primary ballot, would reimpose limits on financial donations to state candidates(Alaska Beacon).
MAINE: Appeals Court judges seem open to Maine limits on super PAC contributions (CommonWealth Beacon).
ARKANSAS: Petitions for Arkansas direct democracy proposal fall short, secretary of state says (Arkansas Advocate).
ARKANSAS: Judge hears testimony in case over Arkansas’ initiative process restrictions (Arkansas Advocate).

ICE Widens Its Reach in the States

Immigration enforcement kept generating friction between state and local officials and the federal government. Pennsylvania’s governor is facing new pressure to close a youth detention center and end the state’s collaboration with ICE, a federal court struck down part of Trump’s mass detention policy, and Colorado’s Aurora City Council pressed a private contractor over a tuberculosis outbreak at one of its facilities.

PENNSYLVANIA: Gov. Shapiro faces calls to close youth detention center, end state collaboration with ICE (Pennsylvania Capital Star).
MASSACHUSETTS: Immigrant protection accord includes state, local enforcement rules (CommonWealth Beacon).
CALIFORNIA: Why federal court struck down Trump’s mass detention policy (CalMatters).
COLORADO: Aurora council insists on cooperation from GEO Group over tuberculosis investigation at ICE facility (Colorado Newsline).
TENNESSEE: Agency providing legal help to immigrant kids forced to shut doors amid Trump administration cuts (Tennessee Lookout).
ARIZONA: Gallego donates Palantir cash to immigrant relief fund, cuts ties with ICE’s ‘tech backbone’ (Arizona Mirror).

Midterm Primaries Take Shape

With primary day approaching in several states, election administration was the story this week. Arizona’s new ballot drop-off option is proving popular, Wisconsin voters are contending with USPS mail delays severe enough to draw a lawsuit, and special and primary elections in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are reshaping several fields.

ARIZONA: New ballot drop-off option proves popular in primary, potentially leading to faster election results (Arizona Mirror).
WISCONSIN: Everything you need to know about how to vote in the Wisconsin primary (VoteBeat).
WISCONSIN: Amid USPS delays, Wisconsin officials tell voters to mail their ballots ASAP and voters sue for more options (VoteBeat).
WISCONSIN: Judge rejects Democrats’ request to allow primary re-votes (Wisconsin Examiner).
MISSOURI: Campaign spending accelerates as Missouri primary election draws near (Missouri Independent).
SOUTH CAROLINA: SC GOP bars 3 candidates from primary ballot, leaving 9 to compete for US Senate (South Carolina Daily Gazette).
GEORGIA: Special election to fill late Georgia congressman’s seat advances to an August runoff (Georgia Recorder).
RHODE ISLAND: Dems ramp up TV ad spending in primary race for AG (Rhode Island Current).

Join Us for the Next Renovator Assembly

Join us for the next Renovator Assembly, a conversation for paid subscribers on Thursday, August 6, at 7 p.m. ET, with Lisa Rice. After being told she could no longer receive a ballot in Washington, D.C.’s only consequential elections, Lisa founded Make All Votes Count DC and led the campaign that passed semi-open primaries and ranked-choice voting with nearly 73 percent of the vote in November 2024. Then she kept going — building Grow Democracy DC to fight the litigation and the recalcitrant City Council through implementation, winning the Council’s reversal on semi-open primaries just last month. She’ll talk with us about how her organization pulled off major change against entrenched opposition, where she found the resilience to sustain it, and what comes next.

Paid subscribers can find the Zoom registration link below.

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