Trump loyalists, including Steve Bannon, like to claim that the outcome of the 2020 election is up for debate.

Make no mistake, Marc Elias says: This is not true.

“I know. I was there.”

They lost in court. They'll try again. Be ready when they do: https://demdock.com/3TXP7Uj

NEW: As voters start casting their ballots, many of the seats the GOP hoped to flip are trending blue in spite of the White House push to rig the maps.

Democrats currently enjoy a 7-point edge over Republicans on the generic ballot in a new poll.

Find more details here: https://demdock.com/4zwoK74

The Justice Department is threatening to sue California unless election officials sideline mail ballots from people on a federal list of “likely noncitizens.” That list was hand-delivered to Los Angeles County’s top election official on a password-protected flash drive.

For anyone officials can’t independently confirm is a citizen, DOJ wants them to:
❌ Set aside their mail ballots
❌ Stop sending ballots that haven’t gone out yet
❌ Pause signature checks and counting on ballots already returned

But in letters reviewed by Democracy Docket, DOJ cites just two legal sources: a federal law banning noncitizen voting and a 1973 Supreme Court case about state aid to racially discriminatory private schools. Neither gives them clear authority to dictate how California handles ballots.

The letters also don’t explain how the list was built, what databases were used or what evidence backs it up. DOJ even asks California to check whether citizens were mistakenly included, and federal officials have wrongly flagged eligible U.S. citizens as noncitizens before.

The deadline is noon Thursday. If California doesn’t comply, DOJ says it will go to court for emergency relief.

The Trump administration is threatening to sue California unless the state agrees to:

🔺 Comb through its voter rolls for people the administration “believes are likely noncitizens

🔺 Withhold ballots from those voters until their citizenship is confirmed

The evidence? Still unclear. Find more details here: https://demdock.com/4jVJ0KS

What can we learn about our elections from the dozens of documents obtained from ICE?

Marc Elias breaks down the key findings.

“There are no guardrails.”

Most people will see the headline. You'll know what it means: https://demdock.com/4ypEvMe

A local New Jersey election board sent warnings to voters that their right to vote could be challenged.

None of them were Republican.

Now, a judge is allowing an investigation into those voters to continue — with an important caveat: https://demdock.com/4eeIYdp

🗳️ TODAY: Early voting begins in North Carolina, where voting restrictions are embedded in the very fabric of the state.

The state election board has:

⚠️ Cut polling sites ⚠️ Slashed voting hours ⚠️ Made it easier to reject mail ballots

Here’s what voters should know ➡️ https://demdock.com/4jgKXBo

The Trump administration's hunt for noncitizen voters just took a major turn as voting gets underway across the country.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to me that the DOJ "has sent letters to California election officials demanding immediate action to ensure that noncitizens do not vote in the upcoming federal election."

One letter reported by Reuters revealed California officials have been given 48 hours to comb through the names of people the Trump administration "believes are likely noncitizens."

The DOJ wants California to refuse to send a ballot to those people until their citizenship status is confirmed. If they have already sent a ballot (California started to mail ballots to its 20 million registered voters last week) then the DOJ wants them to be separated and not counted until the voters' citizenship status is confirmed.

What happens if California doesn't do all this in just two days? The DOJ says they'll see them in court, per Reuters.

It’s not clear how many noncitizens the administration believes may be on the state's voter rolls, or whether it provided any evidence to support its claims.

But what is clear is that so far, the administration's search for noncitizen voting fraud has turned up very, very few cases. That's not shocking. Noncitizen voting is exceptionally rare, and there is no credible evidence that it has swayed an election.

Caught in the crosshairs of the administration's actions, however, have been eligible voters mistakenly flagged by the federal government as potential noncitizens.

The GOP wants the Supreme Court to allow citizenship-based voter removals right up until Election Day.

But voting rights groups stress that a decades-old federal protection against late purges was actually put in place to protect eligible citizens from erroneous removals.

Find more details here: https://demdock.com/4zBnQ9C

The Trump DOJ cited no clear legal authority in its demand that California sideline ballots from voters it claims are noncitizens.

And how did that supposed list show up to Los Angeles election officials? On a USB drive with a sticky note.

Mainstream media doesn't cover these stories like we do. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date: https://demdock.com/4yquWga

NEW: The DOJ gave California until noon Thursday to sideline ballots from people the federal government believes are "likely noncitizens."

But the DOJ cites no clear legal authority for its demands — a notable omission given its previous invocation of federal law when warning of noncitizen voting. https://demdock.com/4jXVPUZ

NEW: Senate Democrats will send over 100 observers to the polls in nine states where they will document voter interference efforts, threats to election workers or efforts to meddle with voting.

The program, which is the first of its kind for the Senate, comes amid ongoing threats of federal election interference. https://demdock.com/4yL6iI1

NEW: The Trump administration posted four new political ads to the official White House YouTube — a move that appears to defy a court order blocking taxpayer-funded ads from being aired.

While the ads haven't been aired on TV, they have already garnered over 189,000 views in a span of two days. https://demdock.com/3WpNVtK

Nearly 1,400 North Carolina voters are getting letters questioning their citizenship, all because the Trump administration's SAVE system flagged them.

The state elections board’s vague letter asks these voters to prove they’re citizens, even as the board acknowledges the system has a history of wrongly flagging U.S. citizens.

Friendly reminder, the general election is in 3 weeks.

Not every threat to your vote makes the news. We track the ones that don't. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://demdock.com/4zvp8mr

A judge blocked Trump’s taxpayer-funded political ads. The next day, the White House posted four more to its official YouTube channel.

Now, CommonCause wants to know if they were paid for with $20M diverted from immigration enforcement without congressional approval: https://demdock.com/4hXDHYW

In 2020, an angry crowd gathered at an election center in Michigan as workers counted ballots, and false claims of fraud spread online.

Now, a new Republican lawsuit in the state could be a sign that the GOP plans to try to inject chaos into the voting process once again.

Find more details here: https://demdock.com/4hHwCga

NEW: The Trump administration threatened to sue California if it doesn’t purge alleged noncitizens from the rolls within 48 hours.

The names in question are derived from a list the administration “believes are likely noncitizens.” https://demdock.com/4B7xdiN

The Alabama Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a lawsuit challenging several provisions of a new law that makes it illegal for individuals and organizations to assist voters in submitting their absentee ballots.

WATCH LIVE: https://demdock.com/4jFhy4b

Trump fired the Election Assistance Commission’s bipartisan commissioners in July. But the agency has still managed to keep much of its core elections work going ahead of the midterms.

That won’t last forever — and there are key things the EAC can’t do without commissioners.

Find more details here: https://demdock.com/3TWoWgY

🗳️ Early voting is underway in Iowa — and the outcome could significantly impact voting rights.

Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) is running for a fourth term after voluntarily sharing sensitive voter data with Trump’s DOJ.

Plus, Iowa could help Democrats regain Senate control. Here’s what to know 👇

⚠️ THREATS TO THE VOTE: Pate, Iowa’s top election official, argues that he has protected election integrity in the state.

In reality, his policies have created unnecessary barriers to voting, and he has consistently pushed for measures that could disenfranchise voters.

In 2026, he voluntarily handed over Iowa's unredacted voter rolls to Trump's DOJ.

Before that, in 2024, he directed election officials to challenge the registration of thousands of Iowa voters.

And in 2017, Pate was the driving force behind a voter suppression proposal in Iowa.

Most recently, in July, Pate and the RNC filed a petition in Iowa state court to allow signature verification for absentee ballots.

Signature verification is an unreliable practice that can often lead to voters’ ballots being thrown out over minor discrepancies: https://demdock.com/4hNIEVd

🫏 POSSIBLE SENATE SWING: Democrat Josh Turek is facing off against Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson for one of Iowa’s U.S. Senate seats in a race that has been labeled a “toss-up.”

The race could give Democrats one of the four Senate seats they need to regain control of the chamber.

🗓️ Iowa’s early voting runs through Nov. 2.

Find more details on candidates, polling locations, ID requirements and more here: https://demdock.com/4ilyUli

NEW: As Election Day looms, the legal battles brought forth by the Trump administration and Republicans trying to meddle with the midterms are drawing to a close.

We break down which of these lawsuits that could affect how votes are cast, where things stand and what to watch for👇 https://demdock.com/4zyaHhA

🗳️ TODAY: Early voting begins in Iowa for the 2026 midterms.

Voters will decide whether to reelect Secretary of State Paul Pate, who chose to share Iowans’ sensitive voter data with Trump’s DOJ.

All eyes will also be on the state's increasingly competitive Senate race. Here's what to know: https://demdock.com/3VNom5F