This is What Actually Keeps Me Up at Night

Everywhere Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias goes, he's asked two questions: what is Trump going to do next, and is he worried? The first one is easy, because Trump has said, over and over, that he plans to seize control of vote counting in the 2026 midterms. The second one is harder — and it's the one that's been keeping him up at night.

Donald Trump just did something extraordinary on stage at the RNC convention: he made Republicans raise their right hand and pledge to him personally — then pledge that they're going to "cheat like hell," whether they're registered to vote or not. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down why this moment matters and why it confirms what he's been warning for months: Trump's plan for the midterms isn't to win a fair fight, it's to make it harder for you to vote and easier for Republicans to cheat.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. — appointed by Donald Trump — just blocked the U.S. Postal Service's new mail-in voting rule, delivering another major setback to the administration's effort to restrict how Americans vote just 50 days before the midterms.Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the ruling in DSCC v. Trump, handed down late Sunday by Judge Carl Nichols. This ruling is separate from the related mail-in voting case out of Massachusetts, which is still pending before the Supreme Court. Marc walks through how the two cases differ, what a Trump appeal could look like next and what voters need to know as ballots start going out. 

Donald Trump's Department of Justice just admitted, in its own words, what we have been saying for months: the U.S. Postal Service's new mail-in ballot rule could strip millions of Americans of their ability to vote by mail. In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, the DOJ acknowledged there is a "grave risk" that states won't be ready to comply if the rule takes effect for this year's midterms. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the sentence buried in DOJ's filing, what it reveals about the Trump administration's real strategy and why the rule's barcode-matching system could cause tens of thousands of eligible voters to be rejected over a single mismatched name.

[11:35 AM]Less than two months before Election Day, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias lays out Donald Trump's blueprint to rig the 2026 midterms. An executive order could put the U.S. Postal Service in charge of deciding whether mail-in ballots get delivered at all. The Department of Justice has lost 23 straight lawsuits trying to seize state voter data. A rule change could disenfranchise thousands of voters over a single mismatched name, and a Postal Service slowdown is already increasing ballot rejection rates in this year's primaries. DOJ's seizure of ballots in Fulton County and Maricopa County looks less like an isolated fight over 2020 and more like a dry run for something bigger. Federal law enforcement at the polls is no longer an abstract threat.

Marc Elias sits down with Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of democracy under the second Trump administration.

A bombshell whistleblower complaint, submitted to Sen. Richard Blumenthal's office, reveals that the U.S. Postal Service allegedly kept building a new system to restrict mail-in ballots even after federal courts ordered it to stop it. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the two major allegations: that USPS defied court orders while developing its new "Federal Ballot Mail Portal," and that the system is designed with a "zero percent failure rate" — meaning if just one ballot in a batch of thousands can't be verified, the entire batch gets rejected and sent back, potentially disenfranchising voters over a single mismatched name or address.

With just over 60 days until the midterms, Donald Trump is still trying to weaponize the U.S. Postal Service against mail-in voters. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the legal fight playing out in federal courts in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., including a temporary restraining order that's now being appealed. He also reads directly from the Department of Justice's own court filings, in which lawyers compare mail-in ballots to overweight packages, cremated remains and fake bombs to justify blocking them.

The Department of Justice just made a major move to restore a U.S. Postal Service rule that could cripple mail-in voting in the 2026 midterms. Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket, walks through where this fast-moving litigation stands, how we got here and what's coming that you're not hearing about anywhere else.

In a major win for free and fair elections, a federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing key parts of Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting order. In this episode, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down Judge Indira Talwani’s critical ruling and reveals how it will impact the midterm elections. Plus, Marc explains why Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results is at the heart of the battles we’re fighting today.