CISA Later

This Week in Democracy

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the U.S. Postal Service-related provisions of the president’s second executive order on elections before the midterms. The executive order sought to create a national mail voting list and give the Postal Service unprecedented power in determining who can or cannot vote by mail. The same judge had already blocked these provisions in the states that sued. However, this new order applies nationwide.“That it is now less than 90 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm elections underscores the critical need for an injunction to prevent Defendants from changing election rules on the eve of the election,” U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani wrote.

  The Trump administration is still hoping the U.S. Supreme Court allows the executive order to proceed. Meanwhile, President Trump refused to rule out declaring a national emergency to seize control of midterm elections this fall.

  ➡️ MORE: Sharing the Facts About Trump’s Second Executive Order on Elections

• The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) held a conference call with state election officials about preparing for threats ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Trump administration gutted the agency last year, stripping it of staff and funding used to assist states in shoring up election and cybersecurity protections.While CISA said it was committed to providing states with physical and cybersecurity assessments, state leaders expressed skepticism, saying it was “too little, too late.”

  CISA’s cuts have forced states to fill in the security gaps, seeking partnerships with other states and nonprofits to bolster their safeguards.

  ➡️ MORE: Sharing the Facts About the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

•  This week, Election Deniers won statewide primaries in Vermont and Wisconsin and congressional primaries in Alabama, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. So far this year, 25 Election Deniers have advanced in statewide races, while 143 have advanced in congressional races.States United Action continues to track candidates running for office who have denied the results of the 2020 presidential election at ElectionDeniers.org.

  ➡️ EXPLORE: ElectionDeniers.org

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it arrested 51,000 people in July, more than any month during the second Trump administration. As U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) uses new tactics to drive up arrests, states continue to push back on federal overreach. Lawmakers in 32 states have introduced nearly 250 bills this year that seek to limit the presence of federal agents at schools and hospitals, their use of masks, and other alleged abuses; and governors and attorneys general have pushed back on federal overreach and illegality.Facing public backlash over official accounts that differ from observers’ videos, ICE announced every one of its field agents would wear body cameras by the end of the month. However, ICE leadership said it would only release footage if it was in the agency’s “best interests.” Whether this new policy leads to a reduction in aggressive tactics or greater accountability is unclear. Indeed, an agent who recently pointed a gun at a U.S. citizen in a Virginia parking lot was wearing a body camera. The woman in the car, who posted her cell phone video this week, said that “it really felt like a Renée Good situation,” referring to the American who federal agents shot and killed in Minnesota in January (also caught on a body camera).

  ➡️ MORE: What’s Breaking Through About Federal Law Enforcement Tactics

State of the States

In Arizona and Nevada, judges dismissed the criminal cases brought against fake electors who, in 2020, signed documents that falsely awarded the states’ electoral votes for President Trump, even though former President Joe Biden won. While the judges dismissed the cases, both attorneys general of Arizona and Nevada may continue to pursue the matter. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes could bring changes again if she is reelected in November, while Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said he would appeal the dismissal in his state.

In California, Attorney General Rob Bonta said in the cases where judges have acted, his office has blocked the Trump administration in 83% of the lawsuits it has brought over the past year and a half. The Trump administration is “historic in its unlawfulness, in its willingness to trample over our Constitution,” Bonta told The Washington Post.

In the District of Columbia, it has been one year since the president declared a public safety emergency and deployed the National Guard on the streets of the nation’s capital. Groups of armed soldiers patrolling D.C. neighborhoods have become a common sight for residents. The deployment costs have added up to hundreds of millions of dollars, but the impact on crime reduction remains unclear.

“In places like California, the governors worked to get the National Guard out,” one resident told The 51st. “But I need people to know that this is still our reality. Going to the movies, they’re there. Grocery store, they’re there. All parts of day-to-day life now feature armed supervision.”

In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger launched a bipartisan task force to encourage voters across the political spectrum to have confidence in the election system. The group, made up of former top state officials and local election workers, hopes to combat those who are “casting doubt on it and creating that doubt in people’s minds,” Raffensperger told the Georgia Recorder. Over the coming months, the task force will assist in training, community discussions, and local election preparation.

In Minnesota, Secretary of State Steve Simon said federal election monitors did not interfere with the voting process during the state’s primary on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Justice sent around 20 plainclothes agents to the state to enforce civil rights laws, including around language and disability access. Both his office and the state Attorney General’s Office tracked the federal monitors to ensure they followed the law.

In Wisconsin, a late-night mistake in Milwaukee disrupted what was otherwise a smooth Election Day. Local election workers failed to download results from five of its nine tabulators and had to return to the counting facility. It delayed results by around 90 minutes.

“We’re all human, and humans can make errors,” chief Milwaukee election official Paulina Gutiérrez told Votebeat. She added that the results were unaffected by the error and were accurate, despite what some bad-faith actors claimed in the aftermath to sow doubt and mistrust in elections.