In a win for voters in Mississippi, a federal court ordered the state to draw new Senate districts for DeSoto County. It’s the latest development in the long legal saga over state Senate and House redistricting maps.

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Friday, April 18

THIS WEEK

- Some promising news for North Carolina Justice Allison Riggs

- Federal court orders Mississippi to draw new Senate districts for DeSoto County

- A key federal elections agency is moving forward with Trump’s anti-voting order

NORTH CAROLINA

Some promising news for North Carolina Justice Allison Riggs

There’s been a slew of significant legal developments in the ongoing saga of the North Carolina state Supreme Court race — with the most significant one poised to boost Democratic Justice Allison Riggs’ chances of prevailing ([link removed] ) .

Though Riggs won the election by just 734 votes, her Republican challenger, appeals court judge Jefferson Griffin, and the GOP are trying to steal the election with multiple lawsuits to get some 65,000 ballots disqualified. Last week, the state Supreme Court issued ([link removed] ) an order declaring that about 60,000 ballots with incomplete registrations cast in the race will still be counted.

But the order also moved to disenfranchise some 5,000 ballots cast by military and overseas voters unless they cure their ballots in 30 days. Riggs, the state’s Democratic party and a host of pro-voting groups took the fight to federal court ([link removed] ) , but the federal district court denied ([link removed] ) their requests to halt the ballot curing process.

On Tuesday, state election officials clarified in a court filing the state of the curing process: the number of ballots at risk of being thrown out is significantly lower than the 5,000-plus previously thought to be at issue. The board said 1,409 ballots from military and overseas voters from a single county — Guilford County — are subject to challenge. Challenges in other counties were invalid, the board said, because Griffin submitted the additional challenges after the state deadline.

To cure these ballots, the board intends to have the Guilford County Board of Elections review documentation submitted with the ballots to confirm that the voters didn’t include ID. If the county finds that the voters did submit ID, or an exception form, their votes will not be challenged.

The Supreme Court’s order also greenlit a lower court’s decision to reject up to 266 ballots cast in 55 counties by overseas voters who are registered to vote in North Carolina but never resided in the state. The board detailed a plan to reach out to these affected voters and give them a chance to confirm their residence status before their ballots are disqualified.

The new numbers appear to put Riggs in a much stronger position to prevail against Griffin in this prolonged legal saga — and Griffin isn’t having it ([link removed] ) .

In a filing Wednesday, he asked ([link removed] ) the state appeals court to expand the number of curable and disqualifiable ballots back to more than 5,000. He’s also trying to expand the number of never-residents whose ballots should be disqualified beyond the 266 number. In his filing, Griffin said he requested information on never residents from each county but only received information on 266 never residents provided by the state board by the time he filed his election protests in December.

Meanwhile, Riggs and several pro-voting groups are continuing their fight to get every ballot counted in federal court. On Wednesday, Riggs and several pro-voting groups filed ([link removed] ) motions ([link removed] ) in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals seeking to block the state from starting the cure process.

“Military and overseas voters followed all the rules and should not have to jump through additional hoops to have their votes count,” Riggs’s campaign said ([link removed] ) in a statement on the requested stay. “We are continuing to stand up for military voters in federal court to protect their constitutional right to vote — we are grateful to these brave Americans for their service and know that they deserve better than this.” Read more about the latest developments in the legal challenge to the North Carolina Supreme Court race here. ([link removed] )

MISSISSIPPI

Federal court orders Mississippi to draw new Senate districts for DeSoto County

In the long legal challenge ([link removed] ) over Mississippi’s state Senate and House redistricting maps, a district court ordered ([link removed] ) the state to draw new Senate districts for DeSoto County, declaring that the latest map drawn by the state did not remedy Voting Rights Act (VRA) violations.

To recap how we got here: Back in 2022, the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP sued ([link removed] ) the state over Senate and House redistricting maps drawn with 2020 census data. The lawsuit alleged ([link removed] ) that the state’s Republican leaders drew maps that violated Section 2 of the VRA by diluting “the voting strength of Black Mississippians and deny[ing] Black Mississippians a full and fair opportunity to participate equally to white Mississippians in the political process.”

The NAACP, in their lawsuit, argued that in drawing the maps Republicans packed Black voters in certain areas and cracked other areas with large Black populations. Ultimately, the maps “[diminished Black Mississippians’ true voting strength statewide and in the relevant districts,” the plaintiffs argued.

In July 2024, a district court found that Mississippi’s GOP lawmakers violated Section 2 of the VRA when they drew state Senate and House redistricting maps — and ordered the state to draw new maps. After several court orders, the plaintiffs submitted in March partial objections to the legislature's latest Senate map — specifically in Desoto County. The NAACP alleged that the state was still diluting the power of Black voters in that county in violation of the VRA.

In a win for voters, the district court agreed ([link removed] ) with the plaintiffs that Mississippi’s GOP lawmakers still managed to violate Section 2 with their latest map for Desoto County. The state has seven days to draw a new map. Learn more about the case here. ([link removed] )

TRUMP ACCOUNTABILITY

A key federal elections agency is moving forward with Trump’s anti-voting order

The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) — an independent bipartisan commission — is moving forward ([link removed] ) with President Donald Trump’s sweeping elections executive order despite a barrage of lawsuits challenging it as an assault on states’ constitutional authority to run their own elections.

Among the numerous provisions in Trump’s sweeping order ([link removed] ) to disenfranchise millions of voters is a requirement that eligible voters show proof of citizenship when using a federal form to register to vote or update registration info.

On April 11, the commission sent state election officials a letter ([link removed] ) “seeking consultation” on how they would apply Trump’s proof of citizenship demand if his order ultimately stands — and how the new requirement would affect voter registration in their states.

The requirement would bar millions of voters who lack ([link removed] ) easy ([link removed] ) access to citizenship documents from using the National Mail Voter Registration Form. The order also could force states to rapidly shift their registration procedures. If states don’t or can’t comply, Trump’s order directs the EAC to punish those states by withholding federal funding.

Naturally, the order was met by a slew of lawsuits. Democratic attorneys general in 19 states sued ([link removed] ) to block the order, arguing that it “sows confusion and sets the stage for chaos.”

Several voting rights organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU, also sued to stop the order and, in a letter, urged ([link removed] ) the EAC to not comply with Trump’s order. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that the president has no authority under the Constitution, or the federal law establishing the EAC, to direct its commissioners to act.

The Democratic Party, which is being represented by Elias Law Group, also argued ([link removed] ) in a court filing Thursday that the EAC’s letter to election officials indicates that the order is being implemented. (Elias Law Group Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.)

In a court hearing Thursday to consider a preliminary injunction, the Trump administration argued that steps haven’t been taken yet to put the order into effect. Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice argued that the letter was unrelated to implementing Trump’s order.

District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, appeared skeptical of that argument. The judge noted that the letter, at the very least, formally notified states that the commission considers the executive order to be a mandate.

OPINION

Republicans Are Trying to Steal an Election

Screenshot 2025-04-17 at 4.39.17 PM ([link removed] )

There is no other way to interpret what’s happening in the legal challenge to the North Carolina state Supreme Court race: Republicans are trying to steal an election. “They have been laying the groundwork for five months, and unless the federal courts intervene, they just might succeed,” Marc writes in his latest. “If they do, it could usher in a new era of election subversion in future contests across the country.” Read it here. ([link removed] )

NEW EPISODE

Trump DOJ Drops Voting Rights Lawsuits

In the past few weeks, the Trump Justice Department dropped or withdrew its involvement in 7 voting rights cases filed under the Biden Administration. Marc Elias and Paige Moskowitz explain these cases and what they mean about the future of voting rights and federal election law enforcement. Watch it here. ([link removed] )

What We’re Doing

Senior Reporter Matt Cohen currently has his nose buried in Mỹ Documents ([link removed] ) , a terrific, funny and eerily relevant new novel from author and Verge editor Kevin Nguyen. Though the story takes place in an alternate history setting of the 2010s — after a series of terrorist attacks in the U.S., Congress passed legislation to send Vietnamese Americans to internment camps — it’s not hard to imagine similar events taking place in our current political climate.

But don’t worry, Mỹ Documents isn’t meant to keep you up at night worrying that this might happen, it’s instead a hilarious and hopeful piece of satire that actually feels good to read in this moment.

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