Recent Attacks on Voters

July 2026

President Trump delivers a primetime address, doubling down on unproven conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Among other things, Trump pointed to an attempted fraudulent voter registration scheme in Muskegon–a scheme that was quickly flagged by a clerk and investigated by law enforcement and resulted in zero fraudulent votes or registrations.
President Trump removes the three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), hampering the commission’s key functions. Created in 2002, the EAC is an independent, bipartisan commission that works to protect the nation’s election equipment and support election officials.
The U.S. Department of Justice announces plans to send election monitors to Detroit, Lansing, East Lansing, and Hamtramck for the August Primary Election. While it’s not uncommon for the DOJ to send election monitors to Michigan (or elsewhere), the many other anti-voter actions taken by the current administration make this plan equally suspect.

Republican state senators introduce a bill to prevent hundreds of thousands of Michiganders from voting by mail. The bill would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting—a constitutional right provided to all Michigan voters thanks to Proposal 3 of 2018. This bill not only shows a disturbing desire to eliminate an accessible, accountable method of voting trusted by millions of Michiganders, but it also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Michigan’s laws, as the Michigan legislature cannot simply pass a law to override Michigan’s constitution.
The Republican National Committee and the Michigan Republican Party file a lawsuit challenging newly-adopted state regulations governing challengers. The lawsuit alleges that these regulations are unlawfully restrictive. If successful, this lawsuit could make it easier to disrupt ballot counting and challenge Michigan voters.
FBI agents raid the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that advocates for voting rights. According to the Ohio Capital Journal, agents also fanned out across the state to interview people who have worked with the collaborative and in some cases seized their electronic devices such as phones and laptops.

The U.S. Department of Justice demands that Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett turn over all 2024 ballots and other election materials from Wayne County. Not only was this request sent to the wrong office (the local clerks–not the county clerks–retain election materials), but it was also premised on rejected claims and stale allegations.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections learns that Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop unlawfully removed Michigan voters from the voter rolls. Bishop claims that she was engaged in a “corrective audit.” (The Bureau subsequently revoked her access to the voter rolls.)
The U.S. Supreme Court effectively guts Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act, opening the door for states to enact discriminatory voting maps and laws.

President Trump issues (another) anti-voter Executive Order, ordering the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of voting-age citizens and allowing the U.S.P.S. to determine who is allowed to vote by mail.
Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan submits signatures for their anti-voter ballot initiative, which would impose documentary proof of citizenship and strict voter ID requirements for all Michigan voters. Simply put, this initiative would prevent eligible Americans from voting.
The Michigan House passes a bill which would establish documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration. This bill, which would violate the Michigan Constitution, represents another disinformation-fueled attempt to disenfranchise Michigan voters.

The U.S. House of Representatives passes the SAVE America Act, which would require those registering to vote to provide documentary proof of citizenship, present photo ID to vote in person, and submit a photocopy of their ID when applying for and submitting their absentee ballot.