In a major win for voters, a federal judge today permanently blocked key portions of the sweeping executive order on elections President Donald Trump signed last year.

Friday, January 30

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Judge smacks down Trump’s anti-voting order, blocks key parts

- A federal judge permanently blocked ([link removed] ) key portions of the sweeping executive order on elections President Donald Trump signed last year. “Put simply, our Constitution does not allow the President to impose unilateral changes to federal election procedures," the judge wrote.

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Trump admin officials promised to address state election leaders. They bailed

- Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were scheduled to address and take questions from chief election leaders attending the National Association of Secretaries of State conference today, where Democracy Docket was in attendance ([link removed] ) . But the officials canceled ([link removed] ) at the last minute without explanation.

- The cancellation drew ire among Democratic secretaries of state, who were planning to ask about the Trump administration’s recent attacks on voting and elections — including the DOJ’s unprecedented legal effort to obtain private voter data from every state, and Gabbard’s troubling presence ([link removed] ) at the FBI’s recent raid of Fulton County, Georgia’s election hub earlier this week.

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New GOP scheme to rig presidential elections: Missouri sues to exclude undocumented from census

- Missouri sued ([link removed] ) the U.S. Census Bureau to stop it from counting undocumented immigrants in the once-a-decade census — a change that, if implemented, would give the GOP a major boost in races for both Congress and the White House.

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Trump and sons demand $10 billion payout in new lawsuit against IRS

- Trump and his two eldest sons sued ([link removed] ) the IRS for $10 billion of American taxpayers’ money over the leak of his tax returns during his first term. Trump’s own political appointees at the IRS will now dictate the agency’s response.

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Ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon, independent reporter arrested over anti-ICE protest at Minnesota church

- Federal law enforcement arrested ([link removed] ) former CNN anchor Don Lemon for being at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church, marking the Trump administration's latest attack on the free press and anyone it perceives as an obstacle to its immigration crackdown.

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Standing up to DOJ’s voter roll power grab

- Why is your personal data being put in harm’s way? The answer is simple: Trump wants to control who can vote in elections. The DOJ’s voter data scheme is nothing more than an attempt to incorrectly purge eligible voters from the rolls — all in the name of winning, Dan Vicuña of Common Cause writes ([link removed] ) .

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AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK’S GOOD NEWS

Judge officially tosses voter roll suit against Oregon, questions DOJ motives

- A federal judge formally dismissed ([link removed] ) the DOJ’s lawsuit seeking Oregon’s unredacted voter rolls and openly questioned whether the Trump administration’s campaign is driven by improper motives. The judge said the case would be thrown out entirely and warned that a recent letter from Bondi — which linked voter roll access to immigration enforcement demands — reinforced concerns that DOJ’s effort is pretextual, not about election administration.

Michigan investigation debunks GOP noncitizen voting claims

- A state investigation dismantled ([link removed] ) a noncitizen voting scare pushed by Michigan Republicans, finding the claims were based on misread data and wildly exaggerated. After reviewing records cited by Macomb County officials, the Michigan Bureau of Elections concluded that only a handful of cases even required follow-up — and there was no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.

- The findings undercut GOP efforts to weaponize the episode to justify stricter voting rules and attack Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Maryland advances counter-gerrymander map

- Maryland Democrats moved ([link removed] ) closer to wiping out the state’s last GOP-held U.S. House seat, as a key House committee advanced legislation approving a new congressional map designed to counter Republican mid-decade gerrymanders nationwide.

- The bill, backed by Gov. Wes Moore (D), would likely shift Maryland’s delegation from 7–1 Democratic to 8–0, positioning the state as an explicit counterweight to Trump-backed GOP redraws in places like Texas and North Carolina.

Trump DOJ loses experienced anti-voting attorney

- Maureen Riordan, the former acting chief of the Justice Department’s voting section, was confirmed ([link removed] ) to have left the DOJ, Democracy Docket reported. Her quiet exit removes one of the few experienced lawyers left in the voting section and leaves control in the hands of newer, less experienced hires with records of election denial.

- That loss of competence matters: With Riordan gone and the section hollowed out under Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration’s dangerous attempt to centralize voter data now looks even more stagnant — weakening a campaign that courts have begun to unravel.

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