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Democracy Docket

@democracydocket.com
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Leading digital news and information platform covering voting rights, elections, and the courts — from an unapologetically pro-democracy standpoint. Newsletters: demdock.com/3T3Owjg Reporting: democracydocket.com Founded: @marcelias.bsky.social

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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 1h
A top DOD official says the military has “no plan” to deploy troops to election sites this fall. But given the Trump administration’s track record of defying court orders, violating federal campaign laws, and embracing election denialism, the reassurance is limited.
democracydocket.com
DOD tells senator it has ‘no plan’ for troops at polls. But she has ‘no idea what Trump will do’
“I take that as a positive sign,” Slotkin said. “[I] still have no idea what Trump will do."
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 1h
NEW: In a win for Montana voters, a state court blocked a restrictive date of birth verification requirement for absentee voting. Advocates argued the law increased the likelihood that valid ballots cast by those with difficulties getting to a polling place would be rejected on technicalities.
democracydocket.com
Montana court blocks onerous mail voting law that caused thousands of rejected absentee ballots last year
The mail voting measure led to nearly 3,000 mail ballots getting rejected in the Nov. 2025 election, in a state where 80% of voters vote absentee.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 2h
NEW: A federal judge is set to rule on President Donald Trump’s effort to use vast amounts of Americans’ personal data to create state-by-state lists of people eligible to vote in federal elections, including the upcoming midterms. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Judge to rule on Trump’s bid to create voter eligibility lists before midterms
Voting rights and privacy organizations have warned that the Trump administration or private anti-voting groups could use the lists to disenfranchise eligible voters before elections or challenge…
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 4h
North Carolinians are facing a confusing stream of letters warning voters they must update missing personal information by the Oct. 9 deadline. The mailers are another barrier to voting that makes some voters question whether they should bother casting a ballot at all: demdock.com/4rTwVrB
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 15h
Trump won’t take no for an answer. Not from voters or the loyalists he’s surrounded himself with. “He is assuming there will be no one in his administration to tell him no,” Marc Elias says. Attacks on voters work best when no one's watching. Keep an eye on Trump: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 16h
⚠️ Weeks before the midterms, Georgia's GOP-controlled election board is asking the Trump DOJ to declare the state's federally certified voting machines illegal. It's an extraordinary attack by unelected officials — and the DOJ has no legal authority to do it.
democracydocket.com
GOP-controlled Georgia election board asks DOJ to declare state’s voting machines illegal
The request represents a major assault on the state's voting system by unelected state officials.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 16h
🚨BREAKING: Tarrant County voters sued to block a GOP-backed plan cutting 92 Election Day polling sites, alleging it disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic communities.
democracydocket.com
Tarrant County voters sue to block GOP polling site cuts targeting minority voters
The lawsuit comes a month after the GOP-controlled Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved the cuts in a 3-2 vote despite intense opposition from residents and the court’s two Democratic…
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 18h
📮 New USPS cost cuts could delay your mail ballot. In most states, late means it doesn't count. 61% of planned zip codes will be affected for midterms. Search for your zip code here: demdock.com/4rMi8Ps
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 18h
WIN: A Kansas appeals court rejected the secretary of state's renewed bid to scrap the three-day grace period for mail ballots. Ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within three days will count on Nov. 3.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 19h
The Trump administration quietly removed an option on a form overseas voters use to request mail ballots, making it harder for some to vote. In a new lawsuit, Democrats say the GOP's goal is to disenfranchise voters viewed as more inclined to vote Democratic: demdock.com/4djBJR1
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 20h
NEW: Each election year, USPS takes extra steps to ensure ballots sent through the mail arrive at election offices on time. But this year, the agency has pushed back the start date by five days for a set of new measures, leaving postal workers with a truncated timeline to manage mail ballots.
democracydocket.com
USPS pushes back measures that ensure mail ballots arrive on time
“The shorter timeframe is noteworthy and I don’t know why they’re doing this,” Steve Hutkins, who writes for Save the Post Office, told Democracy Docket.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 21h
NEW: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed leaders in his department to give military voters time to cast a ballot, saying voting for many service members has been "time consuming and complex." But the push comes as the Trump administration pursues measures that would make the process harder.
democracydocket.com
Hegseth urges military to vote as Trump administration makes it harder for them to cast ballots
Hegseth’s push comes as the Trump administration and Republican allies have pursued a series of legal and administrative changes that could make it harder for the same military voters and their famili...
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 23h
Georgia's election board director just asked the Trump admin to seize the state's voting machines. James Mills, an unelected official, sent a letter asking the DOJ to declare Georgia's voting system unlawful and force a system update. This isn't over. Stay close: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
NEW: A new survey reveals Americans across the political spectrum support early in-person voting options, more poll workers and making Election Day a federal holiday — all reforms that increase voting access. Even more? Nine in 10 respondents oppose the restrictive measures being pushed by the GOP.
democracydocket.com
Americans overwhelmingly support pro-voting policies, national survey finds
While just over a third of respondents said they’re more concerned about ineligible people voting, more respondents (56%) said eligible voters not voting is a bigger problem. The latter concern, as a ...
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
🎥 NEW: Weeks before the midterms, election deniers on Georgia's election board quietly asked the DOJ to intervene. Marc Elias unpacks the letter — chock-full of excuses — and how their request could advance Trump's longterm goal of controlling how the swing state's votes are counted👇
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Trump is Coming for Georgia's Vote Count
YouTube video by Democracy Docket
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
NEW: A new USPS policy will eliminate evening mail pickups from select post offices across the country — a change that will eventually slow pick-up and delivery times for around 70% of zip codes in the U.S. We mapped those zip codes to help you figure out whether your mail ballot could be affected👇
democracydocket.com
The Postal Service is slowing delivery. Will your mail ballot be affected?
Democracy Docket mapped the affected zip codes.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
UPDATE: The full 8th Circuit agreed to hear South Dakota’s defense of its anti-voting law, which makes collecting signatures for ballot initiatives more difficult. The development comes after an 8th Circuit panel permanently struck down the law as unconstitutional in August.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
LOSS: A court dismissed a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s new gerrymander that dismantled the state’s lone majority-Black district. The court said it must presume the legislature acted in good faith when assessing discriminatory intent — a standard that makes proving discrimination near impossible.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
🏛️ LOSS: A challenge to a Florida voter registration policy has been dismissed by a Trump-appointed judge. Civil rights groups say the “exact match” policy unlawfully disenfranchises eligible applicants due to minor errors — disproportionately burdening voters of color: demdock.com/3TysEgC
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
ICYMI: In a loss for voters, three South Carolina restrictions on voter assistance will remain in effect for the midterms. The decision could affect the nearly 15% of South Carolinians who identify as having a disability: demdock.com/4xTu5Ef
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
🤔 When voters are stuck in hours-long lines on Election Day, can a judge keep the polls open? A Wisconsin appeals court said no. Now the state Supreme Court could decide whether voters in the battleground state have a lifeline when things go wrong at the polls.
democracydocket.com
Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees to hear case on expanded voting hours during Election Day disruptions
The DNC is asking the justices to clarify whether Wisconsin courts can extend voting hours when election-day problems threaten voters’ constitutional right to vote.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
Rep. Mike Collins, a GOP U.S. Senate candidate, recently said he was “fine” with the idea of Trump sending federal troops to voting sites. “It may be fine with you,” Marc Elias says, “but it’s not fine with federal law.” Keep watch on the people rewriting the rules: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
Pro-voting groups are preparing to combat potential hurdles in this year’s midterms. While the Trump administration is sowing doubts about elections, pro-voting groups are operating an election hotline that voters can use for expert assistance and factual information: demdock.com/3VH3ay7
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 02/10/2026
The RNC is asking Nebraska’s Supreme Court to strip voting rights from Americans abroad whose parents vote in the state — even though its own lawyer admitted the law affects a few dozen voters, at most: demdock.com/4AK6pow
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
WIN: The DOJ has no right to Georgia’s sensitive voting records —a judge ruled — delivering the department’s 26th consecutive loss in their nationwide hunt for voter data. The judge noted Georgia repeatedly offered its public voter roll, which is available to anyone: demdock.com/4yKtyWN
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: Some North Carolinians only have a week to ensure they can vote in the midterms after the state elections board came to an agreement with the DOJ. The deal has left some in the Tar Heel state confused. We break down what steps voters might need to take to ensure they can vote this fall👇
democracydocket.com
North Carolina mailboxes overflow with voter registration warnings after state cut a deal with Trump's DOJ
“This is death by a thousand cuts,” one voting rights advocate told Democracy Docket. “It's why you move voting sites, it's why you have fewer hours, it's why our absentee mailing ballots are so complicated because they just want to find places where p...
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: A Georgia court dismissed a lawsuit challenging Fulton County's absentee ballot drop-off policy that increased the number of sites where voters could drop off absentee ballots. The ruling comes after the county board unanimously voted to end the entire policy earlier this year.
democracydocket.com
Georgia court dismisses lawsuit seeking to block Fulton County absentee ballot drop-off policy
A Georgia judge Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block a Fulton County absentee ballot drop-off policy.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: A New Jersey GOP official allegedly targeted Democratic voters' eligibility over residency discrepancies while leaving Republicans untouched. Now, the ACLU is threatening to sue unless election officials stop the effort — which risks disenfranchising those voters before the midterms.
democracydocket.com
New Jersey GOP operative, pardoned by Trump, accused of scheming to purge Democratic voters ahead of midterms
At the center of the controversy is George Gilmore, who holds two influential positions in Ocean County. He chairs both the county Board of Elections and the Ocean County GOP.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: The GOP-led Georgia State Election Board asked the DOJ to declare the state's voting system unlawful before the midterms. The request, which marks an extraordinary request from the body, comes despite board members denouncing federal involvement in state election procedures.
democracydocket.com
GOP-controlled Georgia election board asks DOJ to declare state’s voting machines illegal
The request represents a major assault on the state's voting system by unelected state officials.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration quietly removed resources from a voter assistance guide that previously helped U.S. citizens living abroad determine their voter eligibility in each state. The move could make it harder for these Americans to understand their rights and restrict ballot access.
democracydocket.com
Exclusive: Trump administration removes resources to help U.S. citizens born abroad vote
The move could make it harder for a small but significant group of American citizens abroad to understand their voting rights. It’s part of a sweeping attack by the administration on access to the bal...
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: Democrats sued the Trump administration for quietly changing a form used by overseas voters to register and request mail ballots weeks before the midterms. The lawsuit argues the altered form is part of a broader GOP effort to make voting more difficult for Americans living abroad.
democracydocket.com
Trump admin quietly changed overseas voter form at 11th hour to disenfranchise Democrats, lawsuit says
The change is part of a Republican plan to make it more difficult to vote or outright disenfranchise a bloc of voters viewed as more inclined to vote Democratic, the DNC lawsuit argues.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
What if a typo kept you from voting? In Florida, under the "exact match" policy, a typo or hyphen can stall your registration. Civil rights groups sued, but a Trump-appointed judge just dismissed the case. Help us keep covering the fights over who gets to vote: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: A Department of Defense official wrote in a letter there are no plans to deploy active-duty troops to the polls or "interfere" with election-related materials. But the response brings little comfort as top Trump administration officials have refused to rule out the option for the fall.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
LOSS: A federal court dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block a Florida policy that pro-voters argue bars nearly 80k eligible voters from registering. The policy requires certain identifying information on a voter’s registration application to exactly match information in government databases.
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Reposted by Democracy Docket
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I hope everyone reads this, thinks about it and then shares it. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
A few hundred noncitizen votes are a national scandal. But when states reject hundreds of thousands of ballots from eligible voters, it’s business as usual
One state rejected ballots because some voters failed to include their mother’s maiden name on the back of the return envelope.
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Reposted by Democracy Docket
Jen Rice @jenrice.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: For anyone who has been wondering about what happens if election denier TX Attorney General Ken Paxton loses the Senate race www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Why top Texas election denier Ken Paxton could cause chaos if he loses his Senate race
Ken Paxton has election interference tools and he’s proven his willingness to use them. But legal experts are confident that courts are up to the task of protecting the will of the voters.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
Trump wants to purge noncitizens from the voter rolls — even if it means eligible citizens get kicked off by mistake. “They want to screen out people who they think will vote Democratic,” Marc Elias says. Voting rules are being rewritten right now. Stay a step ahead: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
The RNC is piloting a program that trains Wisconsin election observers to identify discrepancies with voting machines. Trump has attempted to cast doubt on the accuracy of voting machines. And the new RNC program appears to mark an escalation from typical poll watching activities. Here's how:
democracydocket.com
GOP trained Wisconsin election observers to target voting machines in pivotal swing state
The new RNC program appears to mark an escalation from typical poll watching activities.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: As Texas’s top attorney, Ken Paxton has the power to challenge election outcomes — including the U.S. Senate race he’s the GOP candidate for. If Paxton loses, legal experts say he could try to weaponize his power. But they also have confidence in the courts: demdock.com/4jvWgFM
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
Marc Elias was called an alarmist for saying Trump would refuse to concede in 2020. Then came Jan. 6. “They want you to believe that Donald Trump may say some things, but in the end, he’ll accept the results,” Marc says. “I don’t believe that.” Stay in the know: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
🚨 FACT: Deploying ICE agents to the polls is illegal. And a new survey says it’s deeply unpopular among voters. However, there’s a significant partisan divide. More participating Republicans than Democrats support ICE and National Guardsmen at polling places this fall: demdock.com/4hAX89A
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
The GOP is ramping up efforts to interfere with the midterms. Republicans were just exposed for training Wisconsin election observers to identify discrepancies with voting machines. This is just the start. Subscribe so you never miss an update: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
The GOP is ramping up efforts to interfere with the midterms. Republicans were just exposed for training Wisconsin election observers to identify discrepancies with voting machines. This is just the start. Subscribe so you never miss an update: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
Trump’s DOJ is 0 for 26 in its attempts to get states’ sensitive voter data. Yet DHS indicated it used such data to claim tens of thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote in blue states: demdock.com/4Az8vrg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
It’s difficult to overstate how dangerous a national emergency declaration by Trump would be for American democracy if he wanted to take over elections. However, the emergency declaration likely wouldn’t accomplish what Trump wants it to: demdock.com/4hBati6
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
NEW: Kurt Olsen's resignation from the DOJ marked the latest Trump loyalist to bow out after failing to prove election conspiracies. The continuous string of resignations underscores that, despite Trump's ongoing push to prove false claims of voter fraud, the effort has come up empty.
democracydocket.com
Trump hired them to prove election conspiracies. They all left without proving anything
The series of resignations serves as a stark reminder of how Trump has directed enormous federal resources to proving 2020 election conspiracies -- and has come up empty.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
South Carolina voters with disabilities lost a key mail voting challenge after a federal court threw out the case. This means less options for absentee voting and ballot assistance. The fight over who gets to vote is happening in courtrooms right now. Follow it: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
NEW: When voters in Memphis, Tennessee head to the polls this November, they'll be faced with an unusual situation: a state legislature race with no names on the ballot. Instead, voters will see a blank line for a write-in — and whoever gets the most votes will win the seat in the blue stronghold.
democracydocket.com
Some Tennesseans get ready to cast votes in state legislature race with no names on the ballot
In Tennessee House District 93, a Democratic stronghold in the red state, no candidate will be on the ballot in the general election.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
🚨BREAKING: In a win for Georgia voters, a federal judge dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit seeking access to the state's unredacted voter registration list. The department is now 0-26 in its sweeping legal hunt for states' private voter data.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
NEW: As Texans more than face their fair share of hurdles in this year's midterms, one pro-voting group is training more election protection volunteers than ever before. “We have actually already hit the ground running. We have over 400 volunteers already trained,” the state's program manager said.
democracydocket.com
Pro-voting group prepares hundreds of volunteers to monitor Texas voting
With Texans facing more than their share of potential hurdles in this year’s midterm elections, pro-voting groups are hard at work preparing to back them up at the polls.
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