EGM 2: Justice Dept in the news, along with NY, MO, and Secretaries of State
ELECTION GOVERNANCE MATTERS: 7.27.2026
This ongoing curation of news and commentary focuses on the people, institutions, and rules governing U.S. elections.
FEDERAL INTERFERENCE
DOJ threatens election officials with criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting.
This month, the U.S. Department of Justice threatened criminal prosecution for election officials if noncitizens vote in the upcoming elections. Democratic and Republican leaders pushed back against what they called unfounded claims of election fraud and intimidation of public officials.
This is truly bizarre behavior by the federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.
—Deidre Henderson, Lieutenant Governor of Utah
➜ Read: Justice Department Threatens Top Election Officials Over Noncitizen Voting
REDISTRICTING & BALLOT MEASURES
NY’s race to gerrymander causes damage to bipartisan structures.
Partisan gerrymandering: The Empire State’s legislature recently passed a constitutional amendment to sideline the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. If approved by voters, the measure will allow the legislature to redraw congressional lines before the 2028 elections and likely net four seats for the Democrats. New York’s move would end protections against partisan gerrymandering for the foreseeable future, a noteworthy contrast with California, which suspended its independent commission temporarily, through 2030.
➜ Read: New York Democrats give preliminary approval to redistricting amendment
Collateral damage to NY ballot measure fairness: To help make sure the gerrymandering amendment passes, the legislature changed another law to give itself the power to write the language for all ballot measures—including the redistricting one—taking that authority away from the state’s bipartisan election board.
➜ Read: New Law Gives New York State Legislature the Ability to Write Ballot Language
BALLOT MEASURE FAIRNESS
It’s ballot measure protection vs ballot measure suppression in Missouri.
Suppression: The state legislature is running a constitutional amendment to require citizen-initiated amendments to receive at least 50% of the vote in every one of the state’s congressional districts — creating a bar so high as to essentially end citizen initiatives in the state.
➜ Read: Missouri Could Curtail Direct Democracy in August. How Would that Reshape the State?
Protection: Meanwhile, a citizen initiative would make it harder for the legislature to undo initiatives that voters pass, require ballot summaries to be clear and accurate, and elevate the role of courts in the process over the role of the secretary of state.
➜ Read: Missouri Group Turns in Signatures to Protect Ballot Initiatives
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Where secretaries of state are running for office while running elections.
At this point in the election cycle, 18 sitting secretaries of state are on the ballot in elections they oversee (down from 26 at the start of the primaries; see map below). This situation raises concerns for some voters — and in previous years, has even caused a few cases of significant manipulation. Many organizations support recusal when election officials are on the ballot. ERN agrees, and we’ve helped secretaries do exactly that.
Election officials should demonstrate neutrality throughout their service, and that’s hard to do when an official is planning a run for higher office. At ERN, we believe states should consider deeper reform options to this problematic position in addition to recusal. See this range of options on our website.
Election Governance Matters will post regular updates on this important, and complicated, position.
SCHOLARSHIP
“Addressing partisan election administration is the unfinished business of election reform.”
Daniel Tokaji, Dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School and leading election scholar, released his deep assessment of elections and democracy last week, arguing that election administration is in better shape than most people think. However, structural reforms are still needed, he argued, to insulate election administration from partisan pressures and conflicts of interest. We couldn’t agree more!
➜ Read: “Elections Aren’t Failing, Democracy Is,” by Dan Tokaji.
ERN’s Election Litigation Tracker provides straightforward summaries of critical election law cases that shape election governance. Recent updates include:
Election Workers Grand Jury Subpoena (Georgia): A federal judge dismissed DOJ’s request for records with personal information of thousands of individuals who worked the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. The request was part of the administration’s attempts to investigated alleged voter fraud.
DOJ Voter File Challenge (New Mexico): On July 14, a federal judge dismissed DOJ’s request for New Mexico’s unredacted statewide voter list. This is one of 30 cases the federal government has filed against states declining to turn over the requested data. No courts have ruled in DOJ’s favor.
How nonpartisanship works: Case studies in neutral election administration
ERN’s report highlights the critical role of neutral election governance in ensuring fair, trusted elections in peer democracies. Case studies of New Zealand, Germany, South Korea, and Costa Rica illustrate how crises catalyzed nonpartisanship reforms, insulating election management from political pressure.
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