Here are some updates from today.

• A federal court denied Alabama Republicans' request to pause a decision striking down their new congressional map as the state pursues an appeal of the decision, writing that Alabama "is likely to lose on appeal."

  • Plaintiffs in the case also submitted their proposed map after the court struck down new districts enacted by Republicans. The proposed plan has two majority-Black districts, as the court ordered.

• Trial began in a consolidated federal lawsuit challenging Texas’ omnibus 2021 voter suppression law, Senate Bill 1. 

• Former President Donald Trump filed a motion requesting that Judge Tanya Chutkan recuse herself from his Washington, D.C case, arguing that her previous comments about Jan. 6 "unavoidably taint these proceedings, regardless of outcome."

• Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows appealed a federal judge's decision denying his request to move his Fulton County case to federal court. The denial was a setback for Meadows, and a win for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D). Meadows is seeking to pause the denial while he appeals to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• A Wisconsin Senate committee voted to move the nomination of Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe to the Senate floor. It’s the first step of a Republican-led effort to remove Wolfe from her role as the state’s top election official. 

• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) appointed Judge Allison Riggs to the vacancy on the North Carolina Supreme Court. A staunch advocate of voting rights, Riggs previously served as the co-executive director at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, an organization that fights for the responsive representation of marginalized communities in the South.

• South Carolina Republicans filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the Court to reverse a decision striking down the state's congressional map for racial gerrymandering. Oral argument will be held in this case on Oct. 11.

• A trial also began in a federal lawsuit challenging New Mexico’s ability to criminally prosecute the Voter Reference Foundation, a conservative group that published New Mexico voters’ voting information online, for violating state laws that protect voter data.

• An Arkansas court held a hearing in a lawsuit filed by a conservative nonprofit seeking to ban voting machines in the state. Plaintiffs allege that the state's voting machines fail to comply with Arkansas law.

Here are some other recent updates. 

• The California Legislature passed a bill to change how counties can revise voting system plans after deep red Shasta County voted to end its voting machines contract and hand count ballots instead. The bill now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for his signature.

• The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, announced that it will hold oral argument on Nov. 15 in a case challenging the state's congressional map.

Here’s what’s coming up tomorrow.

• Oral argument will be held in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Republicans’ appeal of a lawsuit challenging the use of electronic voting machines in Arizona. 

• A hearing will be held in a Washington lawsuit filed by pro-voting groups and voters challenging the state’s use of signature matching. The groups have asked the court to declare the signature matching process in violation of the state constitution.