Bad News Weekly: October 17, 2025

Welcome to Bad News Weekly, your rundown of key attacks on voting rights and independent elections across the country – it’s a way to keep up with what the opponents of democracy are up to. We’ll highlight some of the worst anti-voter efforts, with a spotlight on the South, the original frontline in the fight for voting rights, and still its fiercest.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The results would be pretty catastrophic.” – Janai Nelson, an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, on what impact a demise of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act would have in Louisiana v. Callais, a case re-heard by the Supreme Court this week.

NOTABLE TRENDS

• Supreme Court Appears Ready to Gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act: The conservative majority of the Supreme Court appeared open to limiting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) after over two and a half hours of oral argument on Louisiana v Callais on October 15.

  • The six conservative justices “only seemed split on how exactly to handle the constitutional challenge to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA)” and several of them “appeared to be searching for ways to cap how and when states consider race as they redistrict.”

  • If the Supreme Court were to gut Section 2 of the VRA, the effects would be “catastrophic” with electoral maps redrawn across the country and a likely decline in the number of Black and Hispanic elected officials.

  • According to a new report from Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund, the elimination of this safeguard could allow Republicans to redraw up to 19 House seats to favor themselves and “crush minority representation in Congress.”

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STATE ACTIVITY

• California • Nearly 100 Stolen Special Election Ballots Found In Sacramento County Unhoused Encampment: About 100 ballots for the November special election on Proposition 50 were discovered at an unhoused encampment in Sacramento County. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the ballots were found mixed in with a large pile of stolen mail, and all election materials were returned to the Sacramento County elections office. This discovery came less than a week after a similar incident in Yolo County where dozens of ballots were reported stolen from mailboxes, affecting 135 voters. In both cases, the county officials voided the stolen ballots and are mailing new ones to the registered voters’ addresses.

• Louisiana • Gov. Landry Called Special Legislative Session On Elections Ahead Of Anticipated Supreme Court Ruling: A day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Louisiana v Callais, Gov Jeff Landry (R) called for a three-week special legislative session, beginning on Oct 23, on elections. According to Senate President Cameron Henry (R), Landry said that his priorities are to move back qualifying deadlines for the 2026 midterms to allow the state to react to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Callais. However, due to the broadly written call for the special session, legislators could introduce a wide variety of election bills.

• Missouri State Officials Sued to Block “People’s Veto” of Gerrymander After Adding An Additional Hurdle to the Effort: After Gov Mike Kehoe (R) signed into law a new gerrymandered map that splits apart Black communities in Kansas City, People Not Politicians began an effort to initiate a “people’s veto” of the map since the state constitution provides voters an opportunity to block legislation. In order to put the veto question on the ballot for a statewide vote, organizers must collect over 106,000 valid signatures by Dec 11.

  • Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) announced his office approved the referendum petition; however, he added an additional hurdle and claimed that the over 100,000 signatures that were already collected were invalid and constituted a “misdemeanor election office” since they were collected before he approved the petition.

  • Soon after, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the effort on behalf of the state, the state General Assembly, and SOS Denny Hoskins. The lawsuit invoked the independent state legislature theory, arguing that only state legislatures have the power to prescribe the manner of which congressional elections are held, including maps.

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ANTI-VOTING GROUP ACTIVITY

• Republican National Committee Sued Hawaii And its Chief Election Officer, Claiming State Violated Laws By Failing To Provide Data On How It Maintains Voter Rolls: The Republican National Committee (RNC) sued the state of Hawaii and its chief election officer, Scott Nago, claiming that the state violated laws by failing to address the RNC’s questions about what records the state maintains regarding voter rolls. Nago advised the RNC to contact counties directly since Hawaii law states that the counties, not the state, are responsible for maintaining and updating voter rolls. The lawsuit stated that “It would be highly unlikely for the Office not to have any of the types of records requested, such as memos, manuals, policies, emails, or voter registration data,” and added that the RNC reached out to elections officials on Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi island and was told to contact the state.

Paid for by Fair Fight Action.