DOJ (still) wants your data. Election conspiracy theorist joins DHS. VRA under attack.
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| Welcome to Bad News Weekly, your rundown of key attacks on voting rights and independent elections across the country – it’s a way to keep up with what the opponents of democracy are up to. We’ll highlight some of the worst anti-voter efforts, with a spotlight on the South, the original frontline in the fight for voting rights, and still its fiercest. “We are witnessing a dangerous trend: the elevation of known bad-faith actors like Heather Honey.” – Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) on the appointment of prominent election conspiracy theorist Heather Honey to a recently created position at DHS.
U.S. Department of Justice Continues to Escalate Its Efforts to Obtain States’ Voter Data: In Illinois, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) set a September 1 deadline for the state to provide the full voter registration list that includes sensitive information about voters, including Social Security numbers, after the state provided a partial list that did not include sensitive information. In Minnesota, the DOJ threatened legal action after the state refused to provide the voter registration list. In New Hampshire, the DOJ renewed its demand for the state’s voter registration list as well as the voters who did not vote in recent elections and were removed from the rolls.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Asked States to “Soft Launch” A New Feature of Their Citizenship Verification Program: An official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a part of the DHS, sent an email to North Carolina inviting the state to participate in the “soft launch” of a new feature of the SAVE database, a citizenship verification program. The USCIS email asked the state to upload their citizenship confirmation request to the SAVE program by Wednesday August 27 and provide the number of registrations they would upload in bulk for verification in advance of that upload. In a meeting on the 27th, the state board of elections tabled discussion of participating in the soft launch, effectively declining the offer.
Louisiana • State Seeks to Gut VRA Section 2 and Strike Down Current Congressional Map: In a legal brief filed on Wednesday, the state of Louisiana asked the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to strike down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which prohibits racial discrimination in election practices, and to strike down the state’s current congressional map. The state claimed that it had only adopted the current map after being “coerced” by federal courts. “Race-based redistricting is fundamentally contrary to our Constitution,” the state of Louisiana wrote in the brief. North Carolina • State Board of Elections Cleared the Way for Counties to Eliminate Sunday Voting: The state Board of Elections voted to allow counties to eliminate Sunday voting in their 2025 municipal election voting plans after two counties voted to eliminate Sunday early voting options. Davidson County election board member Dick Johnson, who voted to eliminate Sunday voting in his county, claimed that “Most people can get there sometime between Monday and Saturday.” The state board’s vote currently only applies to the 2025 municipal elections but could foreshadow more widespread efforts to limit early voting in 2026. Ohio • Effort to Ban Electronic Voting Machines Gained Attention: A grassroots effort to ban electronic voting machines by the Coalition of Concerned Voters of Ohio in two counties, Seneca and Monroe, has gained state and national attention. Petitions in both counties gathered more than enough signatures to put the question on the ballot but were rejected by the Secretary of State Frank LaRose since state law only allows counties to adopt the use of machines and not reject them. The Coalition of Concerned Voters of Ohio is now exploring legal options.
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Prominent Election Conspiracy Theorist Appointed to Newly Created DHS Position: Heather Honey, a close ally to Cleta Mitchell who started the Election Integrity Network (EIN), was appointed to a newly created position of deputy assistant secretary of election integrity in the Department of Homeland Security. Honey is a prominent EIN figure. She also founded and led the group PA Fair Elections, the state EIN chapter, and has led the Election Research Institute, which was behind a 2024 Georgia State Election Board rule that could have made it easier to delay certification of election results. The rule was blocked by a judge before the 2024 election, who called it along with others passed by the board “illegal, unconstitutional and void.” Paid for by Fair Fight Action.
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