Jen reports on threats to democracy in states across the country. She previously covered elections and local government at the Houston Chronicle and at Houston’s NPR station. She loves voting early on Halloween.
When Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized 650,000 ballots cast in California’s recent redistricting referendum, he opened a new front in the battle over the sanctity of election results.
In a bruising blow to direct democracy, a court has ruled that Republican leaders in Missouri can use a new, gerrymandered congressional map in the 2026 midterms before voters weigh in on the plan.
Four voters have filed a lawsuit with the California Supreme Court demanding a GOP sheriff running for governor return hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in last year’s redistricting referendum, accusing him of violating state election laws that require the ballots to remain in the custody of election officials.
A pro-voting signature removal campaign has managed to derail Republican plans to legalize partisan gerrymanders in Utah.
A state appellate court has denied a petition from the California Attorney General’s office seeking to stop a Republican sheriff from conducting an “amateur” recount of ballots in last year’s redistricting referendum election. But the fight is far from over.
The California Attorney General’s office has asked a court to immediately pause a Republican county sheriff’s investigation into last year’s redistricting referendum election, arguing his seizure of more than 650,000 ballots “threatens to create a dangerous precedent.”
Efforts to oppose a Trump-backed gerrymander in Missouri cleared a major milestone Monday, when pro-voting activists announced that they had logged enough signatures to put the new pro-GOP congressional map to a statewide vote.
A Republican sheriff running for governor of California has seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s redistricting referendum election, an alarming signal that the FBI’s recent conspiracy-fueled raid of a Georgia county election hub could be just the first in a new string of attacks on the results of past votes.
It’s no accident that six months after Republicans rushed their Missouri congressional gerrymander into law, it’s still unclear which map is in effect for the 2026 election. In fact, opponents of the gerrymander say that delay has been the goal all along.
President Donald Trump’s plan to rig the 2026 midterm elections by pushing GOP-controlled states to redraw congressional maps isn’t over yet.