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We previously highlighted that the Justice Department was planning to send 1,000 employees to monitor polling places across the country during this year’s midterm elections. This week, a Trump administration official said the department has recruited nearly all the staff it needs for that effort.

It’s important for voters to know that some observation of elections is a normal part of the American democratic process. In nearly every state, certain individuals are authorized to watch parts of the voting and vote-counting process. Though their level of access to polling sites may vary, observers have for years promoted transparency and public confidence in elections, whether they’ve been Justice Department employees, congressional staff, political party representatives, or volunteers from nonprofits.

The people present are often referred to as observers, monitors, watchers, or challengers. Each of those roles comes with different legal authorities. But one principle binds them all: Observing an election is not the same as running one. State and local election officials remain responsible for administering elections, protecting voters, and securing ballots and voting equipment. No matter their name, observers cannot interfere with election officials’ work or intimidate voters.

With more observers likely to be present at the polls this fall, understanding who they are and the different rules governing what they can and cannot do is especially important. You can read more about them in this new resource from States United.

DHS’s noncitizen voting numbers are wrong, Nevada says
Nevada officials responded to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) claim that 185 noncitizens were registered to vote in their state. State officials investigated each of the individuals identified by the department and found that all 185 are U.S. citizens.

Homeland Security officials had initially told Nevada they identified nearly 16,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the state, but later clarified the number was a “ceiling” and only provided a list of 185 people.

“Our records do not support DHS’s claims, and DHS has still not provided evidence to change that,” Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said in a statement. “Instead, DHS officials continue their attempts to intimidate election officials into compliance and deter voters with huge claims of fraud with no evidence. Repeating unsupported claims does not make them true.”

➡️ MORE: What’s Breaking Through About False Claims of Noncitizen Voting

The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to use a faulty database to check voters’ citizenship
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s request to reinstate the use of a modified federal program to verify voters’ citizenship.

The program—called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE)—was originally designed to verify the citizenship status of people applying for benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, but the administration’s expansion last year permitted bulk uploads of voter lists for review. SAVE has proven to be unreliable: Just last week, it yielded a 21% error rate in Texas. In some cases, its use has resulted in Americans being deregistered to vote.

A federal judge in June blocked the administration from continuing to use the modified program, citing concerns about voters’ privacy and potential disenfranchisement. The justices suggested this week that federal law may prohibit using the program to check voters in bulk this close to the midterm elections, but that individual verifications are likely lawful.

➡️ MORE: Sharing the Facts About Using the SAVE Citizenship Check Program for Elections

The Trump administration attempts to ban reporters from the White House
Late last week, President Trump announced he banned journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from entering White House grounds, saying their coverage of him was too negative. The news organizations quickly sued, arguing the ban was a “direct assault on the First Amendment.” A federal judge ordered the White House to restore the reporters’ access.

The White House eventually complied and allowed the reporters in, but not before turning them away—violating the judge’s order. It’s a continuation of the Trump administration’s pattern of flouting court orders, a trend with which a majority of Americans continually disagree, according to States United surveys.

➡️ MORE: Sharing the Facts About Americans’ Views About Government Respecting Court Rulings

Lawsuits are filed to bar federal agents from polling places
In the last week, civil rights groups and others have filed multiple lawsuits seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying federal agents to the polls in November. State and federal laws are clear that it is illegal to send armed federal agents or the military to voting locations during elections, but administration officials’ comments have raised concerns nonetheless.

States United surveys show that a majority of Americans approve of local law enforcement officers being stationed at voting locations. But substantially fewer say they approve of federal immigration agents being there. Even fewer approve of members of the National Guard being present at the polls.

➡️ MORE: What’s Breaking Through About Deploying Federal Agents to Polling Places

ICE is continuing to use violent tactics
Local police in Evanston, Illinois are investigating an incident in which ICE agents injured and detained a U.S. citizen. The incident occurred the same day as federal agents shot a man in Austin, Texas, as he was delivering food.

States United surveys have found that more Americans think ICE makes them less safe than makes them safer, and more than half say that agents “always” or “usually” use unnecessary force in enforcement operations.

➡️ MORE: Survey: Americans Disapprove of Federal Agents’ Enforcement Tactics

In California, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco broke the law when he seized more than half a million ballots cast in 2025 from election officials.

Bianco took the ballots in March after a group claimed it had conducted an “audit” and found discrepancies. California Attorney General Rob Bonta ordered the sheriff to halt his investigation, arguing he was acting outside of his authority and that his purported investigation would sow distrust in elections. Bianco continued anyway, and Bonta sued.

This week, the justices ordered Bianco to comply with Bonta’s order, halt his investigation, and return the seized ballots to election officials.

In Texas, state officials discovered that a system error resulted in tens of thousands of voter registration applications going unprocessed. Since the error was first reported on Tuesday, state officials resolved the issue and county election officials have received a deluge of applications and are actively working to process them all.

Voters whose registrations may have been affected can still go to the polls and cast a provisional ballot, according to the secretary of state’s office. “If that voter did register, the provisional vote will be counted,” a spokesperson said.

In Utah, the Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury indicted a former U.S. Postal Service mail carrier for allegedly throwing out hundreds of mail ballots before the state’s primary election this year. According to court documents, the man told investigators he “simply made a ‘poor decision’ out of ‘frustration’ and ‘laziness,’” and did not intend to deny any Utahns their right to vote.

In Washington state, a federal judge threw out the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Secretary of State Steve Hobbs seeking Washington voters’ private data, the 25th such case to be dismissed. The Justice Department brought 31 lawsuits in total seeking voter data from states across the country; it has yet to win any of them.

➡️ MORE: Sharing the Facts About Federal Efforts to Compile State Voter Data

The Boston Globe: ‘There’s fatigue.’ A former Harvard scientist on rumored science funding threats and what comes next

Delaney has since left Harvard, but Grant Witness has grown. This month, the group partnered with States United Democracy Center, a democracy watchdog group, to launch Lost Funds, a broader tracker that estimates that $177 billion in federal grants have been canceled, frozen, delayed, or otherwise disrupted across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., since President Donald Trump returned to office.

New York Magazine: Don’t Tune Out Trump’s Midterms Sabotage

The good news is that a determined, bipartisan army of current and former elected officials, attorneys, and journalists have organized to defend against election interference. [States United Action] is providing legal assistance to help local communities safeguard elections, including by running a website, ElectionDeniers.org, that identifies those who supported Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and are currently running for office. “Our tracking tool helps define the democracy landscape, so that we can understand and counter dangerous efforts to change the rules of how elections are run and change the referees (the people who oversee our elections),” the organization’s website notes.

Washington Monthly: Vote By Mail Is Safe—For Now

In 2024, absentee ballots accounted for more than 48 million votes, according to the States United Democracy Center, and in eight states and the District of Columbia (“universal vote-at-home states”), elections are held exclusively by mail.