A judge blocks Trump’s voter registration ban, Texas and North Carolina push to eliminate polling sites, and Missouri blocks a redistricting ballot measure — here’s what’s happening:
Welcome back to The Good, The Bad, The Ugly — your go-to source for the latest in voting rights. At the federal level, a judge blocked the Trump administration’s ban on nonpartisan groups helping new citizens register to vote. In Texas and North Carolina, officials push to eliminate polling sites, impacting students and Black voters. Meanwhile, Missouri’s Secretary of State blocked a ballot measure to undo the newly drawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats.
So, buckle up as we break down the wins, the setbacks, and the urgent fights ahead in the battle for our democracy.
The Good
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s ban on nonpartisan groups helping new citizens register to vote at naturalization ceremonies. The judge found the ban was likely driven by intentional discrimination and that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on First Amendment, Administrative Procedure Act, and equal protection claims, pointing to statements from officials portraying immigrant voters as an electoral threat.
What’s Next: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services must revert to the 2017 policy that allowed qualified nonpartisan nonprofits to help register new citizens. However, the ruling isn’t a final decision on the policy’s legality — it simply pauses the ban while the case continues.
The Bad
Election officials in North Carolina and Texas are considering proposals that would reduce polling locations, making it harder for students, Black, and low-income voters to vote. Officials in Tarrant County, Texas delayed a vote to eliminate nearly half of the county’s polling sites for the November election after dozens of community members testified against the proposal. The plan would cut 176 out of 316 polling sites, including polls on college campuses.
In North Carolina, the election board is moving to cut Sunday early voting and pull polling sites off college campuses. Sunday voting has long been central to “Souls to the Polls” drives organized by Black churches, and advocates warn that relocating campus sites could force students without cars to travel nearly two miles to vote.
What’s Next: The North Carolina State Board of Elections will decide more than a dozen county-level disputes over early voting plans in the coming weeks, with changes set to take effect ahead of the 2026 midterms. In Texas, Tarrant County Commissioners will revisit the proposal to cut polling sites at their next meeting, scheduled for September 1.
The Ugly
In Missouri, the secretary of state blocked a citizen-led ballot measure that would have let voters decide whether to move forward with the state’s new GOP-drawn congressional map. Drawn as part of a broader push toward partisan gerrymandering, the map eliminates one of Missouri’s two Democratic-leaning seats, including the Kansas City-area seat long held by Representative Emanuel Cleaver. Organizers gathered more than 300,000 signatures to put the map on the ballot, nearly triple the roughly 106,000 required, but the secretary of state rejected the measure as unconstitutional, and a Cole County Circuit Judge ruled in favor of the Secretary’s decision.
What’s Next: The GOP-drawn map will now be used in the 2026 midterms. However, supporters of the citizen-led ballot measure will bring their appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.