Friday, January 9

THIS WEEK

With 2026 election looming, Trump’s redistricting war resumes in Missouri, Florida
DOJ demands Minnesota voting records in new attack on same-day registration

REDISTRICTING

With 2026 election looming, Trump’s redistricting war resumes

Winter break is over, and President Donald Trump’s gerrymandering spree is following us into the new year.

On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced that Florida will be the next state to redraw its congressional districts. He announced the legislature would take up redistricting in April.

In a state with 28 congressional districts – eight of them currently represented by Democrats – it’s difficult to predict just how many Democratic seats could be at risk. But we do know Florida will consider redistricting later than expected. That’s because they’re waiting to see when and how the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will rule in the Louisiana v. Callais case, which could have disastrous consequences for voting by weakening the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and making it much harder to fight racial gerrymanders in court.

Several states — most prominently, Louisiana — could take up redistricting this year should a ruling undermining the VRA come soon enough.

With the 2026 midterm elections looming, we find ourselves in that uniquely American hell period when states can still pass new gerrymandered maps but SCOTUS says it’s too close to an election for a court to block them. It’s wild that our democracy works this way.

Meanwhile, in Missouri, Republican state officials remain hellbent on stopping voters from exercising their rights under the state constitution to veto the newest GOP gerrymandered map. Opponents of the gerrymander turned in more than 300,000 signatures last month to hold a state-wide referendum on the map. And there’s still a possible scenario in which they succeed in blocking it.

But the GOP is throwing absolutely every possible hurdle in their way. Now, they have deemed one-third of the signatures “invalid” by claiming they were gathered too early – a decision that referendum supporters are challenging in court.

Here at Redistricting Wars HQ™ (okay, we haven’t actually trademarked it!), we’re also monitoring the situation in California, where a panel of federal judges heard the GOP’s challenge to the California redistricting plan last month. Now, we are keeping an eye out for the ruling in the case. Read more about redistricting here.

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VOTING

DOJ demands Minnesota voting records in attack on same-day registration

As Democracy Docket readers know, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is waging a broad attack on states’ private voter data. Now, it’s kicking off 2026 by opening a new front in the battle: demanding Minnesota turn over its records related to same-day voter registrations.

The North Star State is currently front and center in American politics. On Wednesday, ICE agents shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, sparking outrage across the country. And since last month, the GOP has been excoriating the state and its leadership over a multibillion-dollar welfare fraud scandal.

In that context, voting news can sometimes slip through the cracks. But it shouldn’t! The DOJ’s attack on same-day registrations — like other GOP blows against voting — threatens to undermine access to this fundamental democratic right.

“The Department of Justice is particularly concerned with votes and registrations accepted on the basis of ‘vouching’ from other registered voters or residential facility employees… as well as other same day registration procedures,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter to Minnesota officials.

Under Minnesota’s “vouching” system, voters still need to show a driver’s license, state ID card, or provide the last four digits of their social security number to verify their identity, but another registered voter in the same precinct can “vouch for” — i.e. confirm — where they currently live.

The DOJ letter came after Scott Presler, a right-wing anti-voting provocateur, claimed the Minnesota policy enabled fraud. Read more about the DOJ demands here.

OPINION

Ohio Republicans are defying voters to pursue a backdoor abortion ban

Ohio voters have already (decisively) told lawmakers they want abortion rights. But the state Attorney General and Republican lawmakers are still looking for ways to block them. Their latest effort could include restrictions for telemedicine abortion and for clinics’ Medicaid funding.

“In order to have state policies that actually reflect the will of the people, not well-funded activist groups, we need to ban gerrymandering, protect access to the ballot, and end unlimited spending on elections,” Susan Rinkunas, an independent journalist, wrote in an opinion piece this week. Read more here.

NEW EPISODE

Trump’s 2026 plan to weaponize your voter data

Marc warns that the Trump Department of Justice is aggressively seeking access to Americans’ most sensitive voter data—including Social Security numbers, party affiliation, voting history, and signatures—by suing more than 20 states. He explains why this unprecedented data grab is central to a broader strategy of voter suppression, election subversion, and litigation designed to undermine free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond.

Drawing on decades of experience and current court battles, he breaks down how voter files work, how they can be weaponized, and why DOJ control of this data could fundamentally reshape elections, from voter challenges to targeted suppression laws and post-election challenges. Watch on YouTube here.

What we’re doing

While this isn’t an official voting sticker newsletter (yet?), it has come to our attention that January is voting sticker art competition season around the country. So if you want to help choose your local voting sticker for 2026, it’s worth checking whether there’s a competition going on near you (or perhaps even gently informing your local election officials that you’d like to have one).

Election officials have kicked off voting sticker art contests in West Virginia, Erie County (Pennsylvania), Sarasota County (Florida), Cache County (Utah), Wilkes County (North Carolina), San Miguel County (Colorado), Deschutes County (Oregon) and La Porte (Texas). In other places, voting is already underway to choose between sticker finalists: Washington County (Maryland), St. Charles County (Missouri), Jefferson County (Colorado) and North Dakota.