Mail Ballot Rule Won’t Apply to Midterms, Supreme Court Decides

‘American elections are accessible, secure, and accurate. We should be proud. Nonetheless, we should continue to improve American elections. And we should have conversations about documented proof of citizenship.’

For the same reasons [Americans] trust the elections in their backyard, they should trust the elections in my backyard.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred with a majority of six other justices, writing specifically about his concerns of the timing of the rule with Election Day just weeks away.

This time, an independent auditing agency acted at the instruction of the state legislature, providing new perspective — and familiar results.

Navy veteran Alberto Ramos knows about the work that goes into voting at sea. That’s because there’s a specific job for it.

‘Election officials know that late changes almost always lead to unforeseen consequences,’ the group wrote, asking the court to not allow the rule to apply to this year’s Midterms.

There’s already a lot of factual background to the Trump administration’s increase of investigative resources two months from Election Day. It tells a story the gist of which is unlikely to change.

The Oklahoma governor, who just completed his term as chairman of the National Governors Association, argues in Declare for keeping America’s elections responsive and accountable with the right constitutional balance of power.

“It’s just support. It’s general support,” which New Hampshire could use from the federal government, its chief election official says. “Leave the actual processes up to the states.”

The USPS issued a final rule in late August, and the Supreme Court overruled a lower court in a related case one business day later. But the developments are hardly decisive about elections this November.

Poll worker shortages are a common concern of election officials nationwide. In West Virginia and Tennessee, the secretaries of state try out something new to aid recruitment efforts.

“I am intrigued, but left with many questions” — six, in fact.

Declare’s new Q&A series answers timely questions about elections with the people best-positioned to know.

“Quite frankly, we’re best off when the federal government stays out of our elections.”

The efforts of the Yavapai County Recorder’s office will likely help bolster trust in its elections, but it offers some useful information for officials and voters in other jurisdictions, too.

What’s next for election policy and discourse, after Congress adjourns until mid-September with the president’s top legislative priority stuck.

The R Street Institute has released an election law tracker and rating system that is thorough and fair.

It’s a feature, not a glitch, that elections in this country are very decentralized, and that decentralized nature of elections administration has been a feature since the Founding.

Starting with a summer conference for America’s secretaries of state, three-plus months from the 2026 Midterms, Declare is spending time with chief election officials to get their insights on the election process.

Secretaries of State volunteered their thoughts about local control of election administration during a biannual meeting.