Updated Oct 29

How the Election Is Run

With five days of voting left, courts are refusing to change the rules. On 22 October the Supreme Court let New Hampshire refuse student IDs at the polls, citing the principle against late changes; Justice Jackson dissented. North Carolina's absentee rules and Ohio's proof-of-citizenship requirement also stand.

The fights are over what the federal government does. On 28 October a federal judge refused the Justice Department's bid to hold back California mail ballots from 20,000 people it calls likely noncitizens, saying he could not call its matching credible; the department is appealing. It made the same demand of Washington, which refused. Where states have checked federal citizenship flags, most of those named have been citizens.

The department has also sued to stop Alaska certifying its Senate result if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses because of a second candidate with his name; President Trump says he ordered it. In Utah it lost a 27th suit for a state's voter roll, with no wins.

At the polls, the department says about 1,000 monitors will be in every state, none of them FBI or ICE employees or armed, and states are setting where they may stand.

New Oct 29

in all two topics

The whole story2 chapters

The state of it — as of October 29, 2026

states gave the Justice Department full voter rolls under a now-vacated policy

About 30

states count some mail ballots that arrive after election day

states use the federal citizenship-check system on their voter rolls

In this story

All two updated Oct 29

Updated Oct 29 · 7 new

Checking Voters' Citizenship

A federal judge has refused to let the Justice Department hold back California ballots. On 28 October Judge David O. Carter denied its request to set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 people it calls likely noncitizens. He found the department likely has no standing, that the remedy would breach the federal bar on systematic removals so close to an election, and that he “cannot conclude” its matching is credible. Its remedy, he wrote, is to indict individuals. The department appealed that evening. Two days earlier an appeals court had thrown out its first, premature appeal.

The government’s own filings say the list began with a voter file it bought in May, matched against federal records with LexisNexis data. Los Angeles County says 38.9% of a sample that recorded a birthplace listed the United States. USCIS disputes that but concedes four on the list may be citizens.

The department has now asked Washington to set aside about 400 ballots, and the secretary of state refused. In Arizona, Maricopa County restored 25 SAVE-flagged voters found to be citizens. An immigrant-rights group has asked a Washington, D.C., court to halt the federal campaign.

Continue: Checking Voters' Citizenship →

20,000+

Californians federally flagged as likely noncitizens; a judge let their ballots count

0 of 185

Nevada voters named by Homeland Security as noncitizens who were found to be

8 of 60

SAVE-flagged Maricopa County voters who voted and were found noncitizens

Updated Oct 29 · 6 new

Federal Officers at the Polls

The Justice Department says its monitors will be in every state on 3 November. A spokesperson put the number at about 1,000 and said where they go will not be published until election day. On 28 October the department told a court in a sworn declaration that none will be FBI or ICE employees, and that none will carry firearms or do anything but observe and take notes.

States are drawing lines around them. North Carolina will let monitors inside only before voting starts and after polls close. Pennsylvania says they have no more access than the public, and Lehigh County will keep them outside. Kansas, Maine, Utah and Colorado set limits too.

In Florida, the Border Patrol vehicles seen at a Tallahassee early-voting site on 19 October belonged to reassigned agents who had stopped to try to vote, according to the FBI's account relayed by the county supervisor, who accepted it. A separate immigration stop near a Key Largo site is unexplained.

A judge in Washington has joined three suits over armed agents at the polls; none has been ruled on. Tests of the suspicious letters sent to election offices have found nothing hazardous so far.

Continue: Federal Officers at the Polls →

1,000

Justice Department election monitors, in all 50 states; locations unpublished until 3 November

FBI or ICE employees among the monitors, the department told a court

federal suits seeking to keep armed federal agents away from polling places

Earlier this month

NewOct 23, 2026

A Judge in Utah Hands the Justice Department Its 27th Loss in Its Suits for Voter Rolls

Judge David Barlow dismissed with prejudice the department’s suit for Utah’s full voter-registration database, holding the federal records law does not reach a list the lieutenant governor’s own office creates. Democracy Docket counts it as the department’s 27th district-court loss without a win; Delaware awaits a ruling and Hawaii and Idaho are paused pending appeals. On 28 October a federal judge in California counted at least 31 such suits and no wins in the 26 decided.

Read

Democracy DocketCourtListener / RECAP document archive (Free Law Project)

NewOct 22, 2026

Supreme Court Lets New Hampshire Refuse Student IDs at the Polls

In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court paused a federal judge’s 2 October injunction, so New Hampshire may stop election officials from accepting student IDs as proof of identity on 3 November, citing the rule that courts “should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election”. A state law in force since June had already removed student IDs from the list of valid photo IDs; the judge had kept officials free to weigh them under a fallback provision. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The appeal continues.

Read

SCOTUSblogNew Hampshire BulletinThe Guardian

NewOct 22, 2026

Justice Department Sues to Stop Alaska Certifying a Senate Loss by Sen. Sullivan

The Justice Department asked a federal court in Alaska to bar the state from certifying any Senate result “impacted by voter confusion”, which its complaint defines as Sen. Dan Sullivan losing when he would have won had a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, not been on the ballot; it cites the National Voter Registration Act. President Trump said he ordered the suit. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department does not intend to improperly interfere with certification. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said it “should never have filed this lawsuit”; Mary Peltola’s campaign and voting-rights groups moved to intervene.

Read

CourtListener / RECAP document archive (Free Law Project)NBC NewsCNBCX (self-published post)

Oct 19, 2026

North Carolina's Stricter Absentee-Ballot Rules Stand for November

Federal Judge Thomas D. Schroeder refused on 19 October to block absentee-ballot rules the State Board of Elections adopted on 4 September, the day ballots were first mailed. Under them, a ballot returned in an unsealed inner envelope is spoiled and the voter sent a new one, and counties check that the envelope is signed in the voter's own name; under the 2024 rules a ballot counted if either envelope was sealed. The judge found the merits unclear, the challengers' delay significant and changes infeasible with over 40,000 mail ballots already cast. No appeal is reported.

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Courthouse News ServiceCourthouse News ServiceNC NewslineWFAE

Oct 5, 2026

Montana Judge Strikes Down Birth-Year Line on Absentee Ballot Envelopes

A state district judge, Mike Menahan, ruled unconstitutional a 2025 Montana law requiring voters to write their birth year on an absentee ballot envelope. Envelopes that lack it will not be rejected in November. The judge said the requirement had cost nearly 6,000 Montanans their votes and that the state had shown no evidence of fraud. Disability Rights Montana and Big Sky 55+ brought the case. The Secretary of State told counties it did not know “whether this ruling will be revisited”; no appeal has been announced. Ballots were mailed on 9 October. One outlet says 2 October.

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Montana Free PressDaily MontananKTVQ (Q2 News, Billings)Montana Public Radio

Oct 4, 2026

Scores of Election Lawsuits Are Pending From Both Parties

Both parties have filed scores of election cases before the vote, the New York Times reports, on matters from how a mail-ballot envelope is sealed in North Carolina to the limits of federal authority over state-run elections. The federal government has sued 30 states and Washington, DC for election records; 26 of those suits have been dismissed, by the Brennan Center’s count as cited by CNN. One firm that represents the Democratic Party is litigating 85 cases in 41 states. The Times article was read only through Quartz’s summary of it.

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CNNQuartz

This quarter

Sep 23, 2026

Ohio May Require Proof of Citizenship to Register at Motor-Vehicle Offices

A divided Sixth Circuit panel on 23 September put on hold a district court's injunction against Ohio's requirement that people registering to vote through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles show documents proving their citizenship, granting Secretary of State Frank LaRose's request. The requirement is therefore in force for this election. The majority said the challengers, Red Wine & Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans, likely lacked standing; they did not decide whether the law conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act. The appeal on the merits is pending, with no date reported.

Read

The Daily SignalDemocracy DocketCenter for Election ConfidenceWhen We All Vote

Sep 14, 2026

Supreme Court Leaves Mail-Ballot Rules to the States for November

The Supreme Court refused to lift an injunction against a new Postal Service rule on ballot mail, so each state’s existing arrangements for sending and collecting mail ballots apply on 3 November. The rule, issued in late August under a presidential directive, would have required a standard envelope with a barcode unique to each voter. The order was unsigned and said the government was unlikely to succeed. Justice Kavanaugh wrote that officials “do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections”. Justice Alito dissented, joined by Justice Thomas.

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Supreme Court of the United StatesCouncil on Foreign RelationsCNNGovernment Executive

Earlier this year

Jun 29, 2026

Supreme Court Upholds Counting Mail Ballots That Arrive After Election Day

In Watson v. Republican National Committee the Supreme Court held that federal law does not stop a state counting mail ballots postmarked by election day and received afterward. The case concerned Mississippi, which allows five business days. “Nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day,” the Court’s summary says. Justice Barrett wrote for the Chief Justice and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson; Justice Alito dissented with Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh in part. The Court noted that roughly 30 states count at least some ballots that arrive late.

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Supreme Court of the United StatesCNN

Covered since Jun 2026Read it from the start →