Voting by mail restrictions are blocked, Missouri voters will see district changes again, and ICE at polling places raises concerns — 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, the Supreme Court blocked proposed mail-voting restrictions. Meanwhile, federal officials say ICE and other federal law enforcement agents could enter polling places under certain circumstances, raising concerns about voter intimidation. And in Missouri, state officials continue to sow chaos and confusion in the state’s congressional election.
So, buckle up as we break down the wins, the setbacks, and the urgent fights ahead in the battle for our democracy.
The Good
The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to revive new USPS requirements for mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterms. The decision leaves a lower court’s block in place, preventing major last-minute changes to how states administer mail-in voting just weeks before Election Day. This decision means voters can continue relying on their states’ existing mail-in voting processes — significant when nearly one-third of voters cast their ballots by mail in the 2024 presidential election.
What’s Next: The restrictions are blocked for the 2026 midterms, but the broader legal fight over the administration’s mail-in voting policies continues.
The Bad
In Missouri, voters have faced weeks of uncertainty over which congressional districts will determine their representation in November as conflicting state and federal court orders created a legal battle over the state’s maps. How did we get here? In 2025, after President Trump urged Missouri to redraw its congressional districts ahead of the midterms, Republican lawmakers approved a new map. Opponents responded by gathering more than 300,000 signatures to put the map before voters in a referendum — which, if valid, would suspend the new map while voters weighed in.
But Missouri’s Secretary of State waited until August 4, the day of the primary election, to rule that the referendum was unconstitutional. The Missouri Supreme Court later reversed that decision, ordering the referendum onto the November ballot and the state to use its 2022 map for the general election.
Even as ballots using the 2022 districts have been printed and sent to military and overseas voters, a federal appeals court has ordered Missouri to use the 2025 map instead.
What’s Next: The US Supreme Court will decide what map is used for this year’s general election, but Missouri voters will have the final say on the congressional map for future elections through Proposition A this November.
The Ugly
Federal officials say federal law enforcement could enter polling places to pursue a warrant or respond to a threat. But that does not mean agents are expected to patrol polling places on Election Day. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice officials say they are not planning operations targeting voting locations, and federal law generally restricts armed federal personnel from being stationed at polling places.
Still, the possibility of armed federal agents appearing at voting sites has raised concerns about voter intimidation and confusion, particularly among naturalized citizens and other eligible voters who are often profiled and harassed by law enforcement.
What’s Next: Elected officials and voting rights groups have filed at least two federal lawsuits to block armed agents from ICE or other federal law enforcement agencies from appearing at polling places. The legal challenges could further clarify what federal agents can — and cannot — do at voting sites just weeks before Election Day.