This article has been corrected. 1 correction — see Corrections at the end of this article.

Data currency notice: Election law, legislative status, and official contact information change frequently. Verify all information within 30 days of use. This guide was last researched September 7, 2026. The USPS mail-ballot litigation in particular has changed status six times since mid-August and has an application pending at the Supreme Court right now — check the date on any legal status before you rely on it.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026 — 57 days from this update.

The 2026 midterm elections will be contested under conditions of documented, multi-vector federal interference. This hub article maps the interference structures, names the key actors, and links to every state-specific defense playbook and supporting article in the Patriot University knowledge base.

This guide is for: citizens, voters, election workers, organizers, lawyers, journalists, and state legislators who want to protect fair elections and democratic representation in 2026.

Every recommendation on this page is peaceful, lawful, and constitutionally grounded.

If you read nothing else on this page, read this. The single most useful thing a mail voter can do in 2026 is request and return a ballot as early as the state allows, and — where the state permits it — hand-deliver it to an election office or drop box rather than mailing it. Hand delivery and drop boxes bypass the U.S. Postal Service entirely, so that advice holds no matter how the mail-ballot litigation described below comes out. In-person early voting, where available, is likewise unaffected by any of it.

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The Central Threat: Procedural Nullification by the Speaker

The most significant and least discussed threat to 2026 election integrity is not voter suppression — it is what happens after votes are cast and counted.

Status as of September 7, 2026: the 2025 Arizona instance is closed. The precedent it set is not. That distinction is the whole point of this section, and it is easy to get wrong in both directions — the episode is over, and nothing about its resolution prevents a repeat.

What happened, and how it ended

Adelita Grijalva won the special election in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District on September 23, 2025. Speaker Mike Johnson did not administer the oath to her for 50 days. During that period her district’s 800,000-plus residents had no voting representative in the House. Johnson had administered the oath to five other special-election winners — Reps. Maloy (UT), Fong (CA), Patronis (FL), Fine (FL) and Walkinshaw (VA) — within eight days of their elections at most. He said he was following a “Pelosi precedent” in which Speaker Pelosi took 25 days to swear in Rep. Julia Letlow in 2021, and attributed the rest of the delay to the government shutdown and the House not being in legislative session.

• October 21, 2025 — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Grijalva filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the House Clerk, the Sergeant at Arms, and the House itself. The complaint argued the Constitution requires a qualified, duly-certified winner to be seated; that administering the oath is ministerial; and that the only constitutional route to remove a seated member is expulsion by a two-thirds vote.
• November 12, 2025 — the House returned from an eight-week recess to vote on a continuing resolution, and Johnson swore Grijalva in. Her first act was to sign the discharge petition on the Epstein files, supplying its 218th signature.
• November 14, 2025 — the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit.

Why this is still the central threat

No court ever reached the merits. The suit was withdrawn because the seating happened, not because a judge held the delay lawful or unlawful. There is therefore no ruling that a Speaker may withhold the oath, and no ruling that a Speaker may not. The constitutional question the complaint raised is exactly where it was in October 2025 — open.

That is what makes the episode a live 2026 risk rather than a settled 2025 story. What the record now contains is a demonstration: a Speaker held a certified member-elect out of the chamber for fifty days, absorbed a lawsuit, mooted it by acting at a moment of his own choosing, and faced no judicial consequence. The tactic is documented, its costs are known to be low, and the remedy a litigant would reach for has never been tested.

Where the risk lands in 2026. Any close House majority makes the timing of a single seating consequential, and the calendar creates the openings: special elections held to fill vacancies, and — most acutely — the seating of the entire incoming class in January 2027, when the House organizes itself and the Speaker’s control over the roll is at its maximum. A contested certification in any one state feeds directly into that moment.

What to watch for, not what to assume. As of this update there is no announced plan by any officeholder to refuse to seat a 2026 winner. Treat this as a documented capability and an unresolved constitutional question, not a scheduled event.

For the complete constitutional analysis and citizen response guide, see: What to Do if Your Elected Representative Is Blocked from Being Seated

For the Mike Johnson accountability profile: Mike Johnson — Speaker of the House

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Recent Developments (Entry Point for Updates)

This section logs significant developments in reverse chronological order. It is the primary entry point for updates as new information becomes available.

September 2026

September 6–7 — DOJ takes the USPS mail-ballot fight back to the Supreme Court. The Justice Department withdrew the emergency application it had filed on September 3 and filed a new application asking the justices to stay Judge Indira Talwani’s September 4 preliminary injunction, alongside an appeal to the First Circuit. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the September 4 order is “materially identical to the temporary restraining order, both in its substantive scope and its minimal, conclusory reasoning,” and called the judge’s “continuing prejudgment of the rule” baseless. The application is pending as of this update. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency matters from the First Circuit, had set a September 8 deadline for the challenging states to respond to the earlier application. (Source: SCOTUSblog, September 6, 2026. https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/trump-administration-again-appeals-mail-in-ballot-dispute-to-the-supreme-court/)

September 4 — Federal judge blocks the USPS mail-ballot rule for the November election. Judge Talwani (D. Mass.) granted a preliminary injunction in a 49-page opinion in the case brought by 24 states and the District of Columbia, barring the Postal Service from enforcing key sections of its final ballot-mail rule while the challenge proceeds. The injunction covers the November 3, 2026 election. This — not the vacated June 25 order — is the order that currently blocks the rule. (Source: Brennan Center, “Federal Court Blocks U.S. Postal Service from Interfering with Mail Ballots,” September 4, 2026. https://www.brennancenter.org/)

September 4 — Rep. Krishnamoorthi demands a written DHS policy on agents at polling places. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) formally asked the Department of Homeland Security to issue a definitive policy statement on whether federal immigration agents will be present at or near polling sites. DHS has described a “specific threat” standard it has not defined. No written policy has been issued. (Source: Office of Rep. Krishnamoorthi, September 4, 2026.)

August 2026

August 31 — Joint Chiefs Chairman: no plans to send troops to the polls. Gen. Dan Caine wrote to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in a letter dated August 18 and released August 31 that “the Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections,” nor “to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.” He added: “I have neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections.” (Source: AP via PBS NewsHour, August 31, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-has-no-plans-to-send-troops-to-the-polls-in-november-gen-caine-says)

August 26 — The USPS final rule publishes; the nationwide injunction is vacated; 24 states and DC sue. The Postal Service’s final rule, “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections” (Federal Register doc 2026-17238), was published. Citing the Supreme Court’s August 24 stay in the separate states’ case, Judge Talwani vacated her August 11 nationwide injunction the same day. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia filed a new suit; the League of Women Voters filed a supplemental complaint. Talwani issued a 14-day temporary restraining order against several sections of the final rule on August 27. (Sources: Federal Register 2026-17238; CBS News, August 26, 2026.)

August 25 — Judge finds USPS violated her injunction. Talwani found the Postal Service violated the August 11 order by completing its rulemaking, but declined any remedy beyond identifying the violation. (Source: Axios, August 25, 2026.)

August 24 — Supreme Court stays the earlier injunction as premature. In Trump v. California, the Court stayed an injunction on the ground that the challenge had been filed before a final rule existed. The Court did not rule on the legality or constitutionality of the Postal Service’s rule. Read the order for what it says: it is a timing holding, not a merits holding.

August 5 — The NVRA 90-day quiet period begins. Under the National Voter Registration Act, systematic programs to remove ineligible voters must stop 90 days before a federal election. For November 3, 2026, that period began August 5. Any systematic purge conducted now is presumptively unlawful and immediately actionable. See the dedicated section below.

July 2026

July 22 — The House passes the $1.15 trillion NDAA. The defense bill advanced three weeks after the SAVE America Act fight that stalled it (below). (Source: Time, July 22, 2026.)

July 15 — House budget resolution sets aside $10 billion for an incentive-based SAVE Act. Rather than a nationwide mandate, this scaled-back approach would condition federal funding on states adopting documentary proof of citizenship and photo voter ID. The resolution specifies only the dollar amount; the framework is undetermined. For scale, that $10 billion is nearly double everything Congress has appropriated for election administration since 2002 combined. (Source: Bipartisan Policy Center, “Six Things to Know About the SAVE America Act,” updated July 17, 2026.)

July 9 — Trump fires all Election Assistance Commission members, leaving the agency without a quorum. The EAC distributes federal election grants, maintains the national mail voter registration form, and runs the federal testing and certification program for voting systems. Without a quorum it cannot take official action, including adopting or changing voting-system guidelines or the federal registration form. Testing and certification against already-adopted standards continues, and funding already in the pipeline for November is still expected to flow on existing formulas. The removals’ legal validity may be tested in court. (Sources: Votebeat, July 9 and July 13, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/07/09/trump-fires-election-assistance-commission-members-hicks-hovland-mccormick/)

June 2026

June 30 — House NDAA-SAVE Act rule vote fails (198-224). Speaker Mike Johnson offered to merge the SAVE America Act with the National Defense Authorization Act through a procedural maneuver that would have sent both to the Senate as one package. Fourteen House Republicans — led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL) and including Rep. Chip Roy (TX), the bill’s House sponsor — voted against the rule, demanding instead that Luna’s voter-ID amendment be written into the NDAA text. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (LA) voted no as a procedural device to preserve leadership’s ability to bring the rule back without returning to the Rules Committee. Republican leaders sent the House home two days early for the July 4 recess. The House has now passed proof-of-citizenship voting legislation in three consecutive years; none of it has passed the Senate. (Sources: Axios, June 30, 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/06/30/house-republicansstuck-save-america-act; Reuters, June 30, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-allies-block-us-house-defense-policy-bill-push-voter-id-law-2026-06-30/)

June 30 — Supreme Court strikes down coordinated party spending limits (6-3). In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, 609 U.S. \_\_\_ (2026) (No. 24-621), the Court held that the Federal Election Campaign Act’s limits on how much political parties may spend in coordination with their candidates violate the First Amendment, overruling FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee, 533 U.S. 431 (2001). The Court divided 6-3 along ideological lines. Party committees may now make unlimited coordinated expenditures on behalf of their nominees. Because the ruling rests on constitutional grounds, states with comparable restrictions on party coordination must reassess whether their own laws remain enforceable — Minnesota’s Campaign Finance Board convened specifically to address this weeks before the 2026 cycle. (Sources: CBS News, June 30, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-nrsc-v-federal-election-commission-coordinated-spending/; Skadden client alert, July 16, 2026.)

June 30 — Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship (5-4). In the final ruling of the 2025-2026 term, the Court rejected Trump’s Executive Order attempting to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented parents. Chief Justice Roberts authored the majority opinion joined by Barrett and the three liberal justices; Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito dissented. This ruling reinforces 14th Amendment protections. (Source: Time, June 30, 2026. https://time.com/article/2026/06/17/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-trump-order-fourteenth-amendment-us-constitution/)

June 29 — Supreme Court upholds mail ballot receipt grace periods (5-4). The case is Watson v. Republican National Committee, 609 U.S. \_\_\_ (2026) — Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson was the petitioner, defending his state’s law counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days. The RNC and the Mississippi Republican Party had sued in 2024, arguing that federal statutes setting a single Election Day require ballots to be both cast and received by that date. The district court rejected that theory; the Fifth Circuit accepted it. The Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit, holding that federal law fixes when ballots must be cast, not when they must be received. Justice Barrett wrote for the majority: “The electorate’s choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are received. The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose.” Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Jackson, Kagan and Sotomayor joined. The Campaign Legal Center, which litigated in support of Mississippi, counts more than 30 states and the District of Columbia with receipt-deadline laws that the opposite result would have overridden. (Sources: Votebeat, June 29, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/06/29/supreme-court-watson-rnc-mail-ballots-absentee-deadline-grace-period/; Campaign Legal Center case update, June 29, 2026. https://campaignlegal.org/update/urging-supreme-court-uphold-mail-ballot-laws-voters; ACLU case page, Watson v. RNC.)

June 25 — Federal judge first blocks the mail ballot executive order (SUPERSEDED — see September 4). U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani (D. Mass.) held that Sections 2 and 3 of Executive Order 14399 — “Ensuring Citizen Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections” — exceeded the President’s authority, and enjoined the federal government from creating federal voter eligibility lists and from directing USPS to restrict mail ballot delivery based on federal approval lists. The ruling came one day after Postmaster General David Steiner testified that USPS would refuse to deliver mail ballots in non-compliant states. This order is no longer the operative one. It was overtaken by a renewed nationwide injunction on August 11, which the Supreme Court stayed on August 24 as premature, after which Talwani vacated it on August 26. The order that blocks the rule today is the September 4 preliminary injunction, and it is under a pending Supreme Court stay application. It is recorded here because it is widely and incorrectly still cited as current. (Source: Votebeat, June 25, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/06/25/trump-election-overhaul-mail-voting-executive-order-blocked-talwani-usps-dhs/)

**June 24 — A Mississippi federal court applies Callais to uphold a map challenged as diluting Black votes.** Ruling in a DeSoto County case, Judge Davidson held that the plaintiffs failed at the first stage of the Gingles test, writing that “the Court’s inquiry stops with the Plaintiffs’ failure on all three Gingles preconditions.” After Callais, courts must additionally ask whether plaintiffs used race to draw their proposed remedial maps and whether voting patterns are better explained by party than by race. This is the earliest clear signal that Callais is operating as a merits-stage barrier, not merely a doctrinal statement. (Source: Democracy Docket, June 24, 2026. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/court-upholds-map-targeting-mississippi-black-voters-in-latest-sign-of-callais-impact/)

June 4 — Senate blocks the SAVE America Act a second time (48-50). An amendment by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to attach the bill to a roughly $70 billion immigration-enforcement reconciliation package failed 48-50 — short even of a simple majority, let alone the 60 votes required. Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitch McConnell (KY) and Thom Tillis (NC) joined every Democrat. This was the same margin and the same four Republicans as the April 23 attempt. (Source: Democracy Docket, June 4, 2026. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/senate-rejects-another-gop-push-to-revive-save-america-act/)

April 2026

April 29 — Supreme Court holds race-conscious redistricting under VRA Section 2 unconstitutional (6-3). Louisiana v. Callais. See the dedicated section below; this is the largest single change to voting-rights law in this period.

April 23 — Senate blocks the SAVE America Act on reconciliation (48-50). An amendment by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) to attach the bill’s core to the budget reconciliation package failed 48-50 during an overnight vote-a-rama, with Collins, Murkowski, McConnell and Tillis joining Democrats. (Sources: Democracy Docket, April 23, 2026; The Hill, April 24, 2026.)

March 2026

March 31 — Trump signs Executive Order 14399. Its Section 3 is the source of the USPS mail-ballot rule described below.

March 24 — Oklahoma settles with DOJ and hands over its voter data. It is the only state to do so. Every other DOJ voter-data suit that has been resolved was resolved against DOJ.

March 11 — Democratic-led states begin barring federal immigration agents from polling sites. New Mexico, under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, acted first; several states followed. (Source: AP, March 11, 2026.)

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Federal Interference Structures

Six federal programs, policies and court rulings shape election risk in 2026. Each is stated with its status as of September 7, 2026, because several are in active litigation and a status without a date is worthless.

1. The SAVE America Act

What it would do. The SAVE America Act is the 2026 successor to the 2025 SAVE Act (H.R. 22, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-TX-21, which passed the House 220-208 in April 2025). It was introduced on February 2, 2026 by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Roy. It requires documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to register — a passport or birth certificate, presented in person — and adds a photo-ID requirement to vote in federal elections, drawn from a narrow list of state-issued documents that excludes student IDs, tribal IDs and expired IDs. It also requires states to run their voter rolls against the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database. Every provision would take effect immediately upon enactment.

Status: stalled, not dead. It is not law.

• Passed the U.S. House on February 11, 2026 — the third consecutive year the House has passed proof-of-citizenship voting legislation.
• Blocked twice in the Senate, both times 48-50: the Kennedy amendment on reconciliation (April 23) and the Graham amendment on the immigration-enforcement package (June 4). The same four Republicans — Collins, Murkowski, McConnell and Tillis — joined every Democrat both times. Some coverage says “three Republicans” in its lede while naming four; four is correct.
• A House rule to attach it to the NDAA collapsed on June 30, brought down by fourteen Republicans who wanted a stronger vehicle.
• A scaled-back, incentive-based version is live. The July 15, 2026 House budget resolution set aside $10 billion to reward states that voluntarily adopt DPOC and photo ID rather than mandating either. The framework is undetermined.

A note on attribution. No Senate passage vote on the SAVE America Act has ever occurred. The two 48-50 votes were amendment votes. No senator has a “SAVE Act vote” to attribute — only a position. Any table or scorecard claiming otherwise is wrong.

The state versions are the live threat, and there are two different mechanisms. Conflating them produces the wrong advice for the voter.

• Documentary proof of citizenship at registration. You must show proof to register; without it you are shunted to a federal-only ballot. For the 2026 midterms this is Arizona, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming (Brennan Center, April 23, 2026). AZ, NH and WY are long-standing. SD and UT are new 2026 laws that apply to state elections only — which is exactly what creates a bifurcated roll and the federal-only ballot. Utah’s Lieutenant Governor’s office reported 5,007 registrants whose citizenship it could not confirm, many of them elderly pre-HAVA registrants. Louisiana and Florida have DPOC laws on the books that are not implemented: Louisiana never published its accepted-document list, and Florida’s HB 991 takes effect January 1, 2027. Ohio is a separate case and should not be called a DPOC state — its SAVE-Act-like law is limited by the NVRA to state and local elections, and its BMV documentary-proof rule was enjoined on August 25, 2026 (N.D. Ohio) and is on appeal.
• Voter action: bring documents when you register, and if you are told you can vote only a federal-only ballot, call 866-OUR-VOTE before you accept it.
• Back-end citizenship verification. You register normally; the state later runs the rolls against DHS SAVE or DMV data and moves to cancel flagged registrants after notice. This is Mississippi (SHIELD Act, effective July 1, 2026 — annual checks, 30-day cure, “pending” status permits only a provisional ballot curable within five days) and Texas. There is no federal-only-ballot track here; a flagged voter is reinstated by presenting proof.
• Voter action: check your registration status now. That, not carrying documents to register, is the defense against this mechanism.

Texas has no DPOC requirement — its 2025 bill failed and Proposition 16 (November 2025) restated existing law. Kansas’s DPOC law was struck down and should not be listed as active. Verify your own state before assuming either mechanism applies; the state playbook is the place to check.

The Brennan Center’s estimate that roughly 21 million voting-age citizens lack ready access to documentary proof of citizenship is the figure most commonly cited for the scale of the burden.

Full article: SAVE Act Primer — What It Is and What You Can Do

2. The USPS Mail Ballot Rule (Executive Order 14399)

This is the single biggest change to how Americans vote since July 2026, and it is the fastest-moving. Read the date on every sentence below.

What the rule would do. Trump signed Executive Order 14399 on March 31, 2026. Its Section 3 directs the Postal Service to refuse delivery of mail ballots to voters who are not on new USPS-approved “enrolled mail voter” lists. The implementing final rule — “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections,” published in the Federal Register on August 26, 2026 (doc 2026-17238) — would require election officials to submit lists of approved mail voters to a Federal Ballot Mail Portal that did not exist when the rule issued, to print unique barcodes on outbound and return ballot envelopes, and to obtain USPS pre-approval of envelope designs. USPS would decline to deliver non-conforming ballot mail.

Two carve-outs matter: military and overseas (UOCAVA) voters are exempt, and the rule does not apply to primaries.

Current status — as of September 7, 2026. The rule is blocked by Judge Indira Talwani’s September 4, 2026 preliminary injunction, issued in a 49-page opinion in the case brought by 24 states and the District of Columbia. That injunction covers the November 3 election. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to stay it, and that application is pending. The Court could act at any time.

The June 25 injunction is not the operative order. It was superseded by a nationwide injunction on August 11, which the Supreme Court stayed on August 24 as premature — the challenge had been filed before a final rule existed, and the Court expressly did not reach legality or constitutionality — after which Talwani vacated the earlier order on August 26. Any document still telling you the June 25 order blocks the rule is out of date.

Where the states line up. Twenty-three state attorneys general plus the District of Columbia, together with Pennsylvania through Governor Shapiro (Pennsylvania’s attorney general is a Republican and did not join), are plaintiffs: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OR, RI, VT, VA, WA, WI, DC, plus PA. Twelve states intervened in support of the administration and appealed the August 11 injunction: AL, FL, IN, KS, LA, MO, MT, NE, OK, SC, SD, TX. The remaining fourteen are in neither camp: AK, AR, GA, IA, ID, KY, MS, ND, NH, OH, TN, UT, WV, WY. Georgia and Ohio are in neither camp despite their salience — do not assume. Your state’s playbook states its position.

Separately, two operational changes to the mail stream already affect ballot timing, and they are in force regardless of how the litigation ends:

• Postmark consolidation (December 2025): postmarks are applied at regional facilities rather than local post offices, so an afternoon drop-off may receive a next-day postmark. In a state requiring an Election Day postmark, that disqualifies an on-time ballot.
• Rural pickup reduction (April 2025): post offices 50 or more miles from a processing center were cut from two daily pickups to one, adding 12 to 24 hours of transit time.

What to do, whichever way the Supreme Court rules. Request and return your ballot as early as your state allows. Where your state permits it, hand-deliver the ballot to an election office or drop box — those bypass USPS entirely and are the single most robust hedge available. Use your state’s ballot tracker if it has one. In-person early voting is unaffected.

Full article: USPS and Mail Ballot Interference 2026

3. Federal Agents and Troops at Polling Places

This is a threat environment, not an announced deployment. No federal deployment to polling places has been announced. Reporting it as though one has been is both wrong and corrosive — it discourages turnout on a premise that is not established. What follows separates what has been assured, what has been refused, and what is unanswered.

Assured, in writing. Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in a letter dated August 18 and released August 31, 2026: “Election administration and security remain the fundamental responsibility of state and local officials. The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections. Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.” He added that he had “neither received nor anticipate[d] receiving any unlawful order” concerning the November elections.

Refused, or given only verbally. DHS has issued no definitive written policy. It is not silent: a DHS official told election officials in a virtual meeting on February 26, 2026 that ICE would not be stationed at polling places. That assurance has never been reduced to writing and has not been repeated since. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt subsequently declined to rule out an ICE presence near polling places, and Trump has said he would do “anything necessary” to secure what he calls honest elections. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) formally demanded a definitive DHS policy statement on September 4, 2026; DHS refers to a “specific threat” standard it has not defined.

Unanswered. Whether “near a polling place” is inside or outside DHS’s undefined standard; what triggers the “specific threat” exception; and whether the February verbal assurance survives a change in personnel.

Also on the record. Republican candidates in Georgia, Maine and Michigan have publicly floated sending law enforcement to polls.

The law has not changed. 18 U.S.C. § 592 makes it a federal crime to station “troops or armed men” at any polling place, and it remains the operative criminal statute. State law adds a second layer: New Mexico (Governor Lujan Grisham, March 2026) barred federal immigration agents from polling sites, and several other Democratic-led states have followed. Check whether your state has such a law — the state playbook says.

Full article: Rules of Engagement: Troops and Federal Agents at Polling Sites

4. The DOJ Voter Data Campaign

The Department of Justice has filed 31 lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia, demanding full voter rolls including dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, and has shared voter data with DHS for immigration-enforcement crosschecks. The SAVE database used in those crosschecks produces false positives, flagging naturalized citizens as noncitizens.

The headline is the record: DOJ has not won once. Twenty-three of the suits have been dismissed on the merits. No court, at district or appellate level, has ruled for DOJ.

• Oklahoma is the lone exception, and it did not lose — it settled. On March 24, 2026 Oklahoma handed over its voter data in exchange for dismissal. It is the outlier, and the Oklahoma playbook says so.
• Michigan is the furthest-resolved case. Dismissed February 10, 2026; the Sixth Circuit affirmed on June 24; rehearing en banc was denied on August 14. Attorney General Todd Blanche has floated seeking Supreme Court review but has not filed.
• Georgia had its first suit dismissed for improper venue and refiled in the Northern District of Georgia; that case is pending, with the judge recused since June 15 and no new hearing date.
• Kansas and Montana avoided suit by providing publicly available voter lists.
• Citizens sued their own officials in South Carolina, Nebraska and Alaska over data transfers. The South Carolina and Nebraska data went over anyway; the Alaska suit is ongoing. Common Cause v. DOJ is pending in the District of Columbia.
• Twenty states were never sued: AL, AK, AR, FL, IA, IN, KS, LA, MS, MO, MT, NE, NC, ND, OH, SC, SD, TN, TX, WY.

Most dismissals are on appeal, and the appellate calendar runs through the election. Per-state status changes weekly. Do not rely on a snapshot — the University of Wisconsin State Democracy Research Initiative maintains the authoritative tracker (“Tracker: DOJ Lawsuits Seeking States’ Sensitive Voter Data”), and each state playbook carries that state’s current posture.

Track litigation generally at: Democracy Docket

5. CISA Cuts and the Loss of the EAC’s Quorum

Two federal election-support institutions have been substantially disabled, and the second event is new since this guide’s last revision.

CISA. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s workforce fell from roughly 3,400 to roughly 2,500 over a year through terminations, resignations, administrative leave and program eliminations; as of June 2026 only 2,324 of 3,292 positions were filled, and five of ten regional directors — the primary contacts for state and local officials — were serving in acting capacities. CISA ended federal support for the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) and for the parallel MS-ISAC, which had provided free cybersecurity monitoring to some 18,000 state and local governments, schools, hospitals and utilities. The FY2027 budget proposal would cut CISA by a further $707 million and eliminate its election security program outright. In a Brennan Center survey, 75% of state and local election officials said their own governments had not provided resources sufficient to fill the gap. New DHS grant conditions have also deterred takeup — Maine refused federal cybersecurity funds rather than accept the conditions, forfeiting roughly $130,000 in support.

The EAC lost its quorum in July 2026. Trump removed all Election Assistance Commission members on July 9, 2026, leaving the agency unable to take official action. Be precise about what that does and does not mean:

• What it blocks: any change to the federal mail voter registration form or the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, and any new certification decision requiring commissioner approval. It also blocks the administration from using the EAC to alter those instruments before November.
• What continues: testing and certification of voting systems against already-adopted standards, which does not require commissioner action; and federal election funding already in the pipeline, which is disbursed on existing formulas.
• What is unsettled: the legal validity of the removals, which may be tested in court.

Election security grants have collapsed from $425 million in 2020 to $15 million in 2025 and $45 million in 2026.

The practical consequence for a voter is not that machines will fail — states have built ad hoc replacements for the federal information-sharing they lost — but that the federal capacity to detect and coordinate a response to an incident across states is much thinner than it was in 2024, and the trust relationships that made that coordination work are, by election officials’ own account, badly damaged.

6. Louisiana v. Callais — the Voting Rights Act, Section 2

Decided April 29, 2026. 6-3. This is the largest single change to voting-rights law in this period, and most readers will meet it here first.

What the Court held. The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district and held that race-conscious redistricting under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Since Thornburg v. Gingles (1986), a minority group that could show it was geographically compact, politically cohesive, and large enough to form a majority in a district could require one to be drawn as a remedy for vote dilution. The majority replaced the effects-based inquiry Congress wrote into Section 2 in 1982 with one that in practice demands a showing of discriminatory intent. Justice Kagan, dissenting, wrote that the Voting Rights Act “was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers,” and that only Congress — “not this Court” — has the right to say it is no longer needed. The dissenters argued the new standard makes it “well-nigh impossible” to challenge a map as racially discriminatory or to obtain a majority-minority district as a remedy.

Congressional consequences. Section 2 is no longer an effective check on maps that dilute minority voting strength. Analysts estimate that a quarter or more of the Congressional Black Caucus and roughly a tenth of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sit in seats that could now be redrawn. Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas have been named as newly free to redraw, alongside states already mid-cycle. Louisiana adopted a new map after Callais that hands Republicans a seat.

The larger consequence is local, and it is the part most coverage misses. Four decades of Section 2 litigation has been overwhelmingly about local government: roughly two-thirds of all vote-dilution cases have been local — school boards, county commissions, city councils — and most of those challenged at-large electoral systems, in which a jurisdiction elects every seat citywide or countywide so that a cohesive majority can take all of them. At-large systems are the classic mechanism for ensuring a minority community that could elect one member of a districted body elects none of a citywide one. Section 2 was the tool that dismantled them. It is no longer reliably available.

This is not speculative. Within two months of the decision:

• A federal court in Mississippi upheld a DeSoto County map challenged as diluting Black votes, holding that the plaintiffs failed all three Gingles preconditions under the new framework (June 24, 2026).
• Defendants in a challenge to the East Baton Rouge Parish metro council map argued Callais requires dismissal.
• Houston County, Georgia officials invoked Callais to defend the county’s at-large method of electing commissioners.

**What Callais did not do. It did not repeal the Fifteenth Amendment, and it did not eliminate claims of intentional racial discrimination in voting, which remain available under the Constitution and under Section 2 as the majority construed it — they are simply far harder to prove. State voting rights acts are unaffected**, and in states that have one they are now the principal remaining tool. Callais also does not disturb the separate body of law governing partisan gerrymandering, which the Court had already placed beyond federal judicial reach in Rucho v. Common Cause (2019).

Scope discipline for anyone citing this. Do not assert that Callais caused a specific map change unless you can source that specific causal claim. The doctrinal shift and its local-government consequences are the well-supported findings; attributing any given redraw to it is a separate claim requiring separate evidence.

Where to look next. If you care about a local body — a school board, a county commission, a city council — the change that matters most to you is likely to arrive as a switch to or defense of an at-large system, and it will arrive at a meeting, not in a headline. Your state’s playbook identifies who administers local redistricting in your state.

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The Protection Now in Force: the NVRA 90-Day Quiet Period

Everything above describes pressure on the system. This is the one federal rule currently working in the opposite direction, and it is usable today.

Under the National Voter Registration Act, § 8(c)(2)(A), a state must complete any systematic program to remove ineligible voters from the rolls no later than 90 days before a federal primary or general election. For November 3, 2026, that period began on August 5, 2026. It is active now.

What this means in practice. A systematic purge conducted between August 5 and Election Day — a mass list-maintenance run against a database, a bulk cancellation of registrants flagged by a citizenship check, an automated removal program — is presumptively unlawful and is immediately actionable. Courts have enforced this repeatedly; it is one of the most reliably enforced provisions in federal election law.

What it does not cover. The quiet period bars systematic programs. It does not bar individualized removals — a voter who has died, been convicted where that disqualifies, moved out of the jurisdiction and confirmed it, or asked to be removed. The line between an individualized removal and a systematic program dressed as a series of individual ones is exactly where the litigation happens.

For lawyers and organizers: this is not a future filing posture. It is a live cause of action from now until November 3. If your state is running SAVE-database checks, a DMV-data crosswalk, or any bulk citizenship-verification cancellation right now, the NVRA clock is the first thing to check and the fastest available remedy.

For voters: the practical defense is the same as always — check your registration status now, and check it again in October. The quiet period makes an unlawful removal actionable; it does not make it impossible.

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State-by-State Defense Playbooks

Each playbook below names the key officials in that state (Secretary of State, Governor, Attorney General, key legislators), documents the active legal disruption routes, and provides step-by-step actions for citizens, election workers, organizers, and lawyers.

Where the state file and this page differ, the state file governs. The threat notes in the tables below are short orientation labels, current to September 7, 2026, and deliberately thin. State law, litigation status and official rosters change faster than a hub page can track. Do not act on a cell in these tables — open the playbook.

Tier 1 — Critical (Multiple Active Threat Vectors)

These states face the most concentrated interference risks for 2026.

State	Federal threads as of 2026-09-07	Playbook
Arizona	DPOC required to register (long-standing); DOJ voter-data suit dismissed 4/28/26, appeal stayed pending the 9th Circuit; USPS-rule plaintiff; the Grijalva seating precedent was set here	Arizona Defense Playbook
Georgia	DOJ’s first suit dismissed on venue and refiled — the second is pending, judge recused since 6/15/26; neither camp on the USPS rule; named among states newly free to redraw after Callais; a Republican candidate has floated law enforcement at polls	Georgia Defense Playbook
North Carolina	Not among the DOJ-sued states; USPS-rule plaintiff; new congressional map adopted for 2026; named among states newly free to redraw after Callais	North Carolina Defense Playbook
Pennsylvania	DOJ suit dismissed 6/27/26, on appeal to the 3d Circuit; joined the USPS challenge through Governor Shapiro, not the attorney general; critical swing state	Pennsylvania Defense Playbook
Wisconsin	DOJ suit dismissed 5/21/26, on appeal; USPS-rule plaintiff; partisan state Supreme Court battles	Wisconsin Defense Playbook
Michigan	The furthest-resolved DOJ case: dismissed 2/10/26, 6th Circuit affirmed 6/24/26, en banc denied 8/14/26, no cert petition filed; USPS-rule plaintiff; a Republican candidate has floated law enforcement at polls	Michigan Defense Playbook
Nevada	DOJ suit dismissed 8/14/26, 9th Circuit stayed 8/27/26; USPS-rule plaintiff; Washoe County certification-refusal precedent	Nevada Defense Playbook
Texas	No DPOC requirement — the 2025 bill failed and Prop 16 restated existing law; back-end citizenship verification instead, so check your registration; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued; contested 2025 map in use after a SCOTUS stay; no state VRA; named among states newly free to redraw after Callais	Texas Defense Playbook
Ohio	Not among the DOJ-sued states; its SAVE-Act-like law reaches state and local elections only, and its BMV documentary-proof rule was enjoined 8/25/26 and is on appeal; neither camp on the USPS rule; new congressional map	Ohio Defense Playbook
Florida	HB 991 citizenship verification takes effect 1/1/2027 — it does not apply to this election; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued; new congressional map; election police unit	Florida Defense Playbook

Tier 2 — High Risk

State	Federal threads as of 2026-09-07	Playbook
Maine	DOJ suit dismissed 5/21/26, on appeal to the 1st Circuit; USPS-rule plaintiff; refused federal cybersecurity funds rather than accept new DHS grant conditions; a Republican candidate has floated law enforcement at polls	Maine Defense Playbook
New Hampshire	DPOC required to register (long-standing); DOJ suit dismissed 6/29/26, appeal noticed 7/6/26; neither camp on the USPS rule	New Hampshire Defense Playbook
New Mexico	State VRA-equivalent protections; barred federal immigration agents from polling sites (March 2026); DOJ suit dismissed 7/14/26, on appeal; USPS-rule plaintiff	New Mexico Defense Playbook
Virginia	DOJ suit dismissed 7/14/26, appeal noticed 7/24/26; USPS-rule plaintiff; congressional redistricting in progress	Virginia Defense Playbook
Minnesota	DOJ suit dismissed 8/17/26, expedited appeal underway; USPS-rule plaintiff; strong institutional defenses	Minnesota Defense Playbook
Iowa	Not DOJ-sued; neither camp on the USPS rule; SAVE-database registration bills active	Iowa Defense Playbook
Montana	Avoided a DOJ suit by providing publicly available voter lists; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule	Montana Defense Playbook
Alaska	Not DOJ-sued, but citizens sued their own officials over a voter-data transfer and that suit is ongoing; neither camp on the USPS rule; rural pickup cuts fall disproportionately here	Alaska Defense Playbook

Tier 3 — Elevated

State	Federal threads as of 2026-09-07	Playbook
Mississippi	SHIELD Act (effective 7/1/26) — back-end verification, not DPOC: annual SAVE-database checks, 30-day cure, “pending” status allows only a provisional ballot curable within 5 days. Check your registration; documents at registration are not the issue. Not DOJ-sued; neither camp on the USPS rule; named among states newly free to redraw after Callais, and a DeSoto County map survived a §2 challenge on 6/24/26	Mississippi Defense Playbook
Utah	DPOC in effect for November 2026 (state elections only, which creates a bifurcated roll and a federal-only ballot); 5,007 registrants flagged citizenship-unconfirmed, many elderly pre-HAVA registrants; neither camp on the USPS rule; new congressional map	Utah Defense Playbook
South Dakota	New 2026 DPOC law, state elections only — same bifurcated-roll effect as Utah; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued	South Dakota Defense Playbook
Wyoming	DPOC required to register (long-standing), plus residency; neither camp on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued	Wyoming Defense Playbook
Kansas	Kansas’s DPOC law was struck down and is not in force — do not list Kansas as a proof-of-citizenship state; avoided a DOJ suit by providing publicly available voter lists; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule	Kansas Defense Playbook
Indiana	Intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued; active voter-restriction legislation	Indiana Defense Playbook
Louisiana	Callais originated here and a new congressional map followed, handing Republicans a seat; a DPOC law is on the books but not implemented — the state never published its accepted-document list; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued; East Baton Rouge Parish council litigation is a live Callais test	Louisiana Defense Playbook
Tennessee	New congressional map from a special session; neither camp on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued	Tennessee Defense Playbook
Alabama	The 2023 map is in use after the Supreme Court vacated a block on 5/11/26; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; not DOJ-sued; named among states newly free to redraw after Callais	Alabama Defense Playbook

Tier 4 — Guarded (Institutional Defenses Largely in Place)

State	Playbook
Colorado	Colorado Defense Playbook
Maryland	Maryland Defense Playbook
New Jersey	New Jersey Defense Playbook

Tier 5 — Low (Strong State Protections)

State	Playbook
California	California Defense Playbook
Washington	Washington Defense Playbook
Oregon	Oregon Defense Playbook
New York	New York Defense Playbook
Illinois	Illinois Defense Playbook
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Defense Playbook
Connecticut	Connecticut Defense Playbook
Vermont	Vermont Defense Playbook
Hawaii	Hawaii Defense Playbook

All twelve Tier 4 and Tier 5 states are plaintiffs in the challenge to the USPS mail-ballot rule, and each was sued by DOJ for its voter data; in every one of those twelve cases that has been decided, DOJ lost. Guarded is not the same as unaffected — the USPS rule reaches ballot mail in a plaintiff state exactly as it does anywhere else if the Supreme Court stays the injunction.

Not Yet Tier-Ranked

All 51 playbooks — 50 states plus the District of Columbia — now exist and are current. The twelve below are complete but have not been assigned a tier in the threat-scoring pass; the absence of a tier is not a judgment that the state is low risk.

State	Federal threads as of 2026-09-07	Playbook
Arkansas	Not DOJ-sued; neither camp on the USPS rule	Arkansas Defense Playbook
District of Columbia	DOJ suit dismissed 8/6/26, appeal noticed 8/17/26; plaintiff in the USPS challenge	District of Columbia Defense Playbook
Delaware	DOJ suit pending — argument on motions set 9/29/26, one of the few not yet dismissed; USPS-rule plaintiff	Delaware Defense Playbook
Idaho	DOJ suit stayed pending the 9th Circuit’s California/Oregon ruling; neither camp on the USPS rule	Idaho Defense Playbook
Kentucky	DOJ suit dismissed 7/23/26, on appeal; neither camp on the USPS rule	Kentucky Defense Playbook
Missouri	Not DOJ-sued; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule; new congressional map	Missouri Defense Playbook
Nebraska	Not DOJ-sued, but citizens sued their own officials over a voter-data transfer and the data went over anyway; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule	Nebraska Defense Playbook
North Dakota	Not DOJ-sued; neither camp on the USPS rule	North Dakota Defense Playbook
Oklahoma	The one DOJ outlier: Oklahoma settled on 3/24/26 and handed over its voter data. It is the only state that did. Intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule	Oklahoma Defense Playbook
Rhode Island	DOJ suit dismissed 4/17/26 as a “fishing expedition,” on appeal; USPS-rule plaintiff	Rhode Island Defense Playbook
South Carolina	Not DOJ-sued, but citizens sued their own officials over a voter-data transfer and the data went over anyway; intervened supporting the administration on the USPS rule	South Carolina Defense Playbook
West Virginia	DOJ suit dismissed on the merits 7/13/26; neither camp on the USPS rule	West Virginia Defense Playbook

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Universal Emergency Reference

Use these on Election Day regardless of state.

Resource	Contact
Election Protection Hotline (English)	866-OUR-VOTE
Election Protection (Spanish)	888-VE-Y-VOTA
Election Protection (Asian languages)	888-API-VOTE
Democracy Docket — litigation tracker	democracydocket.com
Brennan Center for Justice	brennancenter.org
Voting Rights Lab — state bill tracker	votingrightslab.org
USPS ballot tracker	informeddelivery.usps.com

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Key National Organizations

Organization	Role
Democracy Docket	Voting rights litigation; most comprehensive tracker
Brennan Center for Justice	Research, legal analysis, policy advocacy
ACLU Voting Rights Project	Litigation and legal defense
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights	Election Day legal hotlines
Common Cause	Election monitoring, policy advocacy
Fair Fight Action	Voter protection, especially Georgia
Election Protection	866-OUR-VOTE hotline coordination
NAACP Legal Defense Fund	Racial equity in voting rights

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Sources

Seating and the Speaker

1. Ballotpedia, “119th United States Congress” — Grijalva timeline: 50-day delay, sworn in November 12, 2025, lawsuit voluntarily dismissed November 14, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/119th_United_States_Congress
2. Democracy Docket case page, “Arizona Congressional Representation Challenge.” https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/arizona-congressional-representation-challenge/
3. CNN Politics, “Arizona sues over Mike Johnson’s refusal to swear in democrats’ newest congresswoman,” October 21, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/21/politics/adelita-grijalva-lawsuit-sworn-in-house
4. Courthouse News Service, “Arizona sues over Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to seat Democrat Adelita Grijalva,” October 21, 2025 — comparison swearing-in intervals for Reps. Maloy, Fong, Patronis, Fine and Walkinshaw.
5. AP, “Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the House’s newest member,” November 12, 2025. https://apnews.com/article/adelita-grijalva-arizona-house-epstein-files-johnson-da75c9f0e362291f3d0edb1da99e019d

USPS mail ballot rule / EO 14399

1. SCOTUSblog, “Trump administration again appeals mail-in ballot dispute to the Supreme Court,” September 6, 2026. https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/trump-administration-again-appeals-mail-in-ballot-dispute-to-the-supreme-court/
2. SCOTUSblog, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to clear the way for it to implement new mail-in voting rule,” September 3, 2026.
3. Brennan Center, “Federal Court Blocks U.S. Postal Service from Interfering with Mail Ballots,” September 4, 2026. https://www.brennancenter.org/
4. Votebeat, “Update: Supreme Court to decide fate of Trump administration’s proposed mail-ballot rules,” updated September 6, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/
5. NBC News, “DOJ asks Supreme Court to allow Trump’s USPS action on mail-in ballots to proceed ahead of midterm elections,” September 3, 2026.
6. Federal Register, “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections,” final rule 2026-17238, August 26, 2026.
7. CBS News, “24 states sue to block new Postal Service rules for mail voting,” August 26, 2026.
8. Voting Rights Lab, “What You Need to Know About the USPS Mail Ballot Rule,” updated August 28, 2026.
9. Axios, “Trump administration violated court order on mail-voting rules, judge says,” August 25, 2026.
10. Los Angeles Times, “Trump again asks Supreme Court to save USPS mail ballot plan after second lower court loss,” August 12, 2026.
11. Votebeat, “Trump election overhaul: mail voting executive order blocked,” June 25, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/06/25/trump-election-overhaul-mail-voting-executive-order-blocked-talwani-usps-dhs/

Louisiana v. Callais and Section 2

1. Brennan Center, “Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court,” updated April 29, 2026 — the two-thirds-of-vote-dilution-cases-are-local figure and the at-large-systems analysis. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-2-voting-rights-act-supreme-court
2. ABC News, “5 things to know about the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on the Voting Rights Act,” April 29, 2026.
3. Campaign Legal Center, “The U.S. Supreme Court Has Eviscerated the Voting Rights Act — What’s Next?” April 30, 2026.
4. Brookings, “Callais decision threatens to stall diversity gains in House,” May 6, 2026. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/callais-decision-threatens-to-stall-diversity-gains-in-house/
5. ACLU, “Live Coverage: Louisiana v. Callais,” April 29, 2026 — Justice Kagan’s dissent. https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/live-coverage-louisiana-v-callais-scotus-arguments
6. Democracy Docket, “Court upholds map targeting Mississippi Black voters, in latest sign of Callais’ impact,” June 24, 2026 — DeSoto County, East Baton Rouge Parish, Houston County GA. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/court-upholds-map-targeting-mississippi-black-voters-in-latest-sign-of-callais-impact/
7. News From The States, “A US Supreme Court ruling hammered voting rights. What does it mean and what happens now?” April 30, 2026.

DOJ voter data litigation

1. University of Wisconsin State Democracy Research Initiative, “Tracker: DOJ Lawsuits Seeking States’ Sensitive Voter Data,” updated September 4, 2026 — the per-state statuses cited throughout this page.
2. Just Security, “Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions” litigation tracker, August 26, 2026.

SAVE America Act

1. Votebeat, “A Trump-backed bill could throw the 2026 midterms into disarray,” February 16, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/2026/02/16/save-america-act-passes-house-proof-of-citizenship-register-vote-photo-id/
2. Bipartisan Policy Center, “Six Things to Know About the SAVE America Act,” updated July 17, 2026 — the $10 billion incentive framework and the Utah 5,007 figure. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/
3. Democracy Docket, “Senate rejects bid to revive SAVE America Act, but the war isn’t over,” April 23, 2026.
4. Democracy Docket, “Senate rejects yet another GOP push to revive SAVE America Act,” June 4, 2026. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/senate-rejects-another-gop-push-to-revive-save-america-act/
5. Axios, “House GOP agenda stuck over SAVE Act, again,” June 30, 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/06/30/house-republicansstuck-save-america-act
6. Reuters, “US House starts July 4 break early after Republican hardline push for Trump voter ID bill,” June 30, 2026.
7. Center for American Progress, “The SAVE Act May Be Stalled in Congress, But State Versions Are Being Advanced,” June 30, 2026.
8. League of Women Voters, “What the SAVE Act Means as the 2026 Midterms Approach,” August 19, 2026.
9. Congress.gov, H.R. 22 — SAVE Act, 119th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22

Federal agents and troops at polling places

1. PBS NewsHour (AP), “U.S. has no plans to send troops to the polls in November, Gen. Caine says,” August 31, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-has-no-plans-to-send-troops-to-the-polls-in-november-gen-caine-says
2. Votebeat, “Trump official: No ICE agents at polling places in 2026 election,” February 26, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/2026/02/26/ice-agents-polling-places-2026-midterm-elections-heather-honey-election-official-meeting/
3. News From The States, “Election experts see few legal options for Trump to meddle with polling places,” September 3, 2026.
4. Office of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, press release, September 4, 2026.
5. AP, “Democratic states move to protect polling places from federal agents,” March 11, 2026.
6. Brennan Center, “Federal and State Election Laws Ban Federal Forces from Polling Places,” 2026. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/federal-and-state-election-laws-ban-federal-forces-polling-places
7. Votebeat, “Can Trump send National Guard troops to the polls in the 2026 election?” January 20, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/2026/01/20/trump-national-guard-troops-polling-places-2026-election-insurrection-act/

Election security institutions

1. Votebeat, “Trump fires Election Assistance Commission members, leaving agency unable to act,” July 9, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/07/09/trump-fires-election-assistance-commission-members-hicks-hovland-mccormick/
2. Votebeat, “What Trump’s Election Assistance Commission firings mean for the 2026 elections,” July 13, 2026.
3. CBS News, “Trump zeroes in on election security. His team has cut thousands of election-focused federal workers,” July 17, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-election-security-cisa-justice-department-fbi-federal-worker-cuts/
4. Center for Democracy and Technology, “Countdown to the Midterms: Mapping the Rapid Evolution of Election Security,” February 13, 2026. https://cdt.org/insights/countdown-to-the-midterms-mapping-the-rapid-evolution-of-election-security/
5. Nextgov/FCW, “Federal drawdown of election support ‘destroyed’ ongoing relationships, experts say,” April 28, 2026.
6. The Fulcrum, “Election Officials Warn of Rising Threats As Security Funding Declines Ahead of Midterms,” May 24, 2026 — the $425M / $15M / $45M grant series.
7. Protect Democracy, “Frequently asked questions about the 2026 midterm elections,” July 15, 2026.

Watson v. RNC and campaign finance

1. Votebeat, “Supreme Court rejects Republican attempt to move up mail ballot deadline,” June 29, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/06/29/supreme-court-watson-rnc-mail-ballots-absentee-deadline-grace-period/
2. Campaign Legal Center, “Urging the Supreme Court to Uphold Mail-In Ballot Laws for Voters,” updated June 29, 2026. https://campaignlegal.org/update/urging-supreme-court-uphold-mail-ballot-laws-voters
3. ACLU, “Watson v. Republican National Committee (Amicus)” case page. https://www.aclu.org/cases/watson-v-rnc
4. National Constitution Center, “The Supreme Court tackles the fate of late mail-in ballots,” March 26, 2026 — Fifth Circuit posture and the 10-5 denial of rehearing en banc.
5. CBS News, “Supreme Court strikes down coordinated campaign spending limits,” June 30, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-nrsc-v-federal-election-commission-coordinated-spending/
6. Skadden, “NRSC v. FEC: Supreme Court Invalidates Limits on Political Parties’ Coordinated Spending,” July 16, 2026. https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2026/07/nrsc-v-fec

Redistricting

1. Ballotpedia, “Redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections,” updated August 7, 2026. https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_ahead_of_the_2026_elections

Internal

1. Election Threat Scenario Planner skill — threat vector inventory.
2. Election Threat Scoring skill — state tier classifications.

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Factual correction requests: If you believe information in this guide is incorrect, please contact factcheck@patriot.university with the specific claim and any supporting documentation. We review all submissions and correct verified errors promptly.

Last Updated: September 7, 2026

Corrections

Correction [2026-09-08]: Stated that Speaker Johnson delayed seating Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva for 36 days. The delay was 50 days: she won on 2025-09-23 and was sworn in on 2025-11-12. The document also presented the episode as a live 2026 threat; the suit was voluntarily dismissed on 2025-11-14 and no court reached the merits. Source: https://ballotpedia.org/; https://www.democracydocket.com/.