FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 13, 2026

Courts and governors resist White House challenges to how states run elections

The president is trying to change U.S. voting policies, which he calls "rigged" against Republicans running for the U.S. House and Senate this November. His goals include eliminating most mail ballots and gathering states' voter files to verify eligibility. Democrats and others see a broader effort to sow doubt about the electoral process itself and the integrity of elections, including for Donald Trump’s successor in 2028. They say proposed actions would make voting harder and undermine trust in results that don’t go the president's way. The federal government has no authority over elections under the Constitution, which says each state runs voting by its residents -- even for Congress and the White House.

Governors and some judges are resisting what opponents call overreach by the Trump administration, such as a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency notice that it would withhold 20 percent of some terrorism-preparedness grants to states that don't show "proof of compliance" with new election security steps. The Justice Department has lost at least a dozen election lawsuits, including several involving changes ordered by Trump in an executive order four months ago. Six courts have said states needn't turn over voter lists. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled 5-4 that states can continue to count mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day if they arrive during a grace period. And in late June, a federal judge permanently barred Trump from requiring citizenship proof when voters register.

'It is no surprise that [state] election officials from both parties are standing up to the administration to defend their role in administering safe and secure elections," posts Eileen O’Connor, senior attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. Trump and his backers have made widely disproven claims of voter fraud for years, particularly about his 2020 loss to Joe Biden – a repeatedly confirmed result he still disputes.

White House says: "President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered noncitizen voters." -- Abigail Jackson, presidential spokeswoman

Voting advocate says: "It is incredibly concerning. . . . They are trying to undermine people’s confidence in the system to keep people from voting." -- Marisa Pyle of All Voting Is Local, a nonpartisan group in

Journalist says: "No matter how often President Trump loses in court, he continues to use the machinery of the federal government to investigate or try to overhaul the nation's election infrastructure to his benefit." -- Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times, in news analysis article

Front Page Talking Points Archive

Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.