“The White House fired two Democratic Election Assistance Commission members Thursday afternoon, completely vacating the federal agency in charge of election management guidelines after the remaining Republican member resigned,” NOTUS reports.

“President Donald Trump’s move comes after a recent Supreme Court ruling that vastly expanded the president’s ability to fire independent government regulators.”

USA Today: Trump removes members of key election commission ahead of midterms.

“The Justice Department sent letters to at least 10 states on Tuesday threatening criminal prosecution of top election officials if ballots cast by noncitizens were counted in upcoming elections,” the New York Times reports.

“The letters arrived in the midst of an ongoing campaign by President Trump and his allies to tighten election rules to prevent a problem that doesn’t exist: widespread noncitizen voting in American elections.”

Punchbowl News: “The version of the SAVE America Act that Trump prefers is quite expansive. It includes a restriction on mail-in ballots, in addition to voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements.”

“There would inevitably be lawsuits challenging portions of the legislation. Individual state governments – which oversee federal elections – would have to change their own rules. It would take time and money to train officials running voter registration and polling sites. Many states have already held their primaries, potentially raising questions about those results.”

“Speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to move quickly to advance President Donald Trump’s signature voter ID legislation through the arduous budget reconciliation process once the House returns to Washington,” CNN reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Voters here could help determine the balance of the U.S. House and will vote in some of the most competitive statewide races in the country. With weeks to go until the state’s primaries and early voting already under way, the feud threatens to sow further distrust in election accuracy ahead of the midterms.”

“On one side is a majority Republican board who have doubled down on their opposition to claims of fraud. On the other is a Trump ally who has been boosted by election deniers and has raised concerns about election integrity but stopped short of saying Trump won the 2020 election.”

“The two sides disagree on everything ranging from who owns the election equipment to the breakdown of responsibilities.”

“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms if we are foolish, stupid, and unwise. But if we terminate the filibuster as we should do and immediately vote for the SAVE America Act, then we will not lose an election for a hundred years. We do that, we’re not gonna lose an election for a hundred years.”

— President Trump, speaking from Mount Rushmore.

Toluse Olorunnipa: “Time is running out. Judges generally frown on any major actions to change voting laws in the weeks before an election. Early voting for the midterms will begin as soon as September in some states.”

“With Congress gridlocked and the courts repeatedly brushing back Trump, there is growing fear among election officials that the president may try to influence election policy in unprecedented ways, such as seizing voting machines—something Trump has said he regrets having not ordered the National Guard to do in 2020—and deploying federal agents to polling places.”

“The courts have proved to be a solid bulwark against Trump’s push to disrupt the midterm elections. But the president is nothing if not persistent when it comes to trying to bend the rules in his favor. As a result, the sanctity of the vote could rely on whether other government institutions and, ultimately, the citizenry can also mount a stand against the president’s worst impulses.”

“At first glance, the Trump administration’s deployment of more than 200 F.B.I. analysts to Georgia this week seems to be another stubborn assault on a fact that has refused to budge: Despite the president’s baseless claims, no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election has ever surfaced there,” the New York Times reports.

“But critics contend that it is just one piece of a broader effort to sow doubt about the electoral process itself and the integrity of elections to come. And no matter how often President Trump loses in court, he continues to use the machinery of the federal government to investigate or try to overhaul the nation’s election infrastructure to his benefit.”

“President Trump has spent months waging an unusually aggressive campaign to reshape how states run elections, leveraging federal agencies in ways no previous president has attempted,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“He has pushed the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of citizens in each state to help determine voter eligibility. He is seeking to give the Postal Service a role in deciding who can receive mail ballots. He has threatened to withhold federal funding from states unless they phase out electronic voting machines. And he is pressuring Republican lawmakers to overhaul voting laws, claiming without evidence that elections are being rigged.”

“The efforts have run into resistance in court and within his own party.”

“North Carolina county officials drawing up their early voting plans for this fall’s midterm elections are contending with a new power player this year: the state auditor,” NBC News reports.

“In the lame-duck period after the 2024 election, Republican legislators voted to strip incoming Democratic Gov. Josh Stein of his authority over the State Board of Elections and give it to the incoming state auditor, Dave Boliek, who had flipped the office for Republicans that year.”

“Once an under-the-radar statewide position focused on monitoring state finances, the state auditor’s office is now taking an involved role in county-level election planning. Boliek and his staff are soliciting information and weighing in on counties’ early voting plans for the November general election, offering feedback and suggesting changes.”

“Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act,” Politico reports.

Said Tillis: “Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?”

“President Donald Trump’s efforts to alter how elections are run faced an avalanche of setbacks last week, as Republican senators rebuffed him and court after court hindered his administration’s plans to, as one judge put it, undercut ‘the sacred right to vote,’” the Washington Post reports.

”The pushback has infuriated the president, who has ramped up his threats and demands as he openly grows increasingly worried about the investigations and impeachment that could come if Democrats win control of Congress.”

”But with the general elections just four months away, Trump is racing the clock as states make final preparations for early voting.”