Your ballot has a schedule. Here it is.

1. August 27, 2026Courts

   Federal judge pauses new USPS ballot-mail rule; hearing set for September 3

   U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts granted emergency relief ordering the Postal Service to take no steps for 14 days to implement key parts of its newly finalized ballot-mail rule, after finding challengers likely to show USPS lacked authority to issue it. Plaintiffs include state attorneys general and civil rights organizations; a preliminary-injunction hearing is scheduled for September 3, 2026. As of September 1, the rule is on hold for the November 3 midterms.

   Ballotpedia News ↗NAACP Legal Defense Fund ↗ACLU ↗
2. August 24, 2026Courts

   Supreme Court stays injunction against mail-voting order in 23-state case

   In Trump v. California, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to stay Judge Talwani's injunction that had barred implementing Executive Order 14399 in 23 states and D.C. through Election Day, with the unsigned order indicating the states' claims were premature. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissented; Jackson wrote the stay injects uncertainty into the midterms. A separate court order restricting USPS implementation remained in litigation, and Washington state filed a new suit on August 26.

   Supreme Court of the United States ↗SCOTUSblog ↗NBC News ↗
3. August 21, 2026Agencies

   USPS finalizes ballot-mail rule requiring state lists of approved mail voters

   The Postal Service filed a final rule, 'Ballot Mail for Federal Elections' (39 CFR part 111), implementing Executive Order 14399. It requires election officials to enroll mail voters through a USPS portal, sets ballot-envelope design standards including a unique ID number per envelope, and states that outbound ballot mailings that do not comply or are addressed to voters not on a state's participation list 'will not be accepted' for delivery. A federal court paused implementation on August 27.

   Federal Register (public inspection) ↗U.S. Postal Service ↗Congressional Research Service ↗
4. July 16, 2026Courts

   Kansas courts revive three-day mail-ballot grace period for 2026 elections

   A state district judge temporarily blocked Senate Bill 4, the 2025 Kansas law that had eliminated the three-day window for counting mail ballots postmarked by Election Day, and the Kansas Supreme Court left that order in place on July 30 ahead of the August 4 primary. While the case proceeds, ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within three days count. The secretary of state has urged voters not to rely on the grace period for November given the ongoing litigation.

   KMUW ↗Ballotpedia News ↗KCTV5 ↗
5. June 29, 2026Courts

   Supreme Court upholds Mississippi grace period for late-arriving mail ballots

   In Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Court ruled 5-4 that federal election-day statutes do not bar states from counting mail ballots cast by Election Day but received up to five days later, reversing the Fifth Circuit. Justice Barrett wrote that the statutes set a deadline for voting, not for ballot receipt. The decision preserves post-Election Day receipt laws in roughly 30 states for the 2026 midterms.

   Supreme Court of the United States ↗SCOTUSblog ↗Votebeat ↗
6. June 25, 2026Courts

   Judge permanently blocks core of 2026 mail-voting order for the suing states

   Judge Indira Talwani granted summary judgment to 23 states and D.C., holding that sections 2 and 3 of Executive Order 14399 violate the Elections and Electors Clauses, the Tenth Amendment's anticommandeering doctrine and the separation of powers, and issued an injunction against implementation through the November election. A related order barred USPS nationwide from carrying out the ballot-delivery provisions; twelve Republican-led states appealed that nationwide halt. The Supreme Court stayed the state-focused injunction on August 24.

   Public Rights Project ↗NPR ↗National Constitution Center ↗
7. June 25, 2026States

   Georgia postpones QR-code ballot ban to 2028; current machines stay for November

   In a special session called by Gov. Brian Kemp, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 3EX, which Kemp signed in late June (date approximate to the signing week), delaying to January 1, 2028 the 2024 law (SB 189) that would have barred using QR codes to count ballots starting July 1, 2026. The measure keeps Georgia's current ballot-marking devices in place for the midterms, mandates hand recounts of the top two statewide races when margins are within 0.5 percent, and tasks a legislative committee with studying a move toward hand-marked paper ballots. It followed a June 4 non-binding State Election Board resolution favoring hand-marked ballots that the secretary of state's office opposed.

   Capitol Beat News Service ↗Rough Draft Atlanta ↗Georgia Recorder ↗
8. May 26, 2026States

   Paxton wins Texas Senate nomination; Middleton nominated for attorney general

   Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff with about 64 percent of the vote and faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November; Paxton remains attorney general while running. In the runoff for the office he is vacating, state Sen. Mayes Middleton defeated Rep. Chip Roy 55.8 to 44.2 percent and faces Democrat Nathan Johnson. The attorney general's office is the state's lead enforcer of Texas election laws.

   The Texas Tribune ↗The Texan ↗Al Jazeera ↗
9. April 2, 2026Courts

   States and Democratic leaders file suits challenging mail-voting executive order

   Within days of Executive Order 14399, a coalition of 23 states and D.C. co-led by California sued in federal court in Massachusetts, arguing the order exceeds presidential authority over elections. Separately, Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, with the DNC, DSCC, DCCC and Democratic Governors Association, sued in Washington, D.C., and LULAC and other organizations filed parallel challenges consolidated before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. The multistate case produced the June 25 injunction later stayed by the Supreme Court.

   California Attorney General ↗PBS NewsHour ↗Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse ↗
10. March 31, 2026White House

    Trump signs Executive Order 14399 on citizenship lists and mail-ballot delivery

    The order, 'Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections' (91 FR 17125), directs DHS and the Social Security Administration to compile a 'State Citizenship List' for each state, bars the Postal Service from transmitting mail or absentee ballots to individuals not enrolled on a state participation list, orders USPS rulemaking to treat ballots as tracked official election mail, and directs the attorney general to prioritize prosecutions tied to ballots issued to ineligible voters. It followed the president's August 2025 pledge to end mail-in voting by executive order. Its key provisions spent mid-2026 blocked in court; the Supreme Court allowed partial implementation on August 24, with USPS-specific provisions still paused as of September 1.

    Federal Register ↗Brennan Center for Justice ↗PBS NewsHour ↗
11. March 25, 2026Congress

    Senate debate on SAVE America Act ends without the votes to advance

    The Senate took up the House-passed SAVE America Act in late March 2026, but Republicans, holding 53 seats, could not reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against proceeding. No final passage vote occurred, and the proof-of-citizenship registration requirement is not federal law as of September 1, 2026. Supporters have said they will continue pursuing its provisions through other legislative and executive avenues.

    Ballotpedia News ↗Center for American Progress ↗
12. February 11, 2026Congress

    House passes SAVE America Act citizenship-documentation voting bill, 218-213

    The House passed the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate to register for federal elections, require mail registrants to present documents in person, and require photo ID or partial identifying numbers with ballots. It succeeds the SAVE Act (H.R. 22), which passed the House in April 2025 and stalled in the Senate. One Democrat joined 217 Republicans in favor.

    Ballotpedia News ↗Congress.gov ↗Bipartisan Policy Center ↗
13. January 9, 2026Courts

    Court rules for Washington and Oregon against 2025 elections executive order

    In Washington v. Trump, filed April 4, 2025, a federal court in Washington state blocked the provisions of Executive Order 14248 challenged by Washington and Oregon, including documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements, conditions on federal election funding, and enforcement aimed at states that count ballots received after Election Day. The Justice Department appealed to the Ninth Circuit on March 10, 2026; the appeal was paused while cross-motions for summary judgment remained pending in the district court as of mid-2026.

    Democracy Docket ↗
14. December 3, 2025Agencies

    DOJ files new wave of voter-roll lawsuits against additional states

    The Justice Department sued Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington for refusing to hand over complete voter registration lists including sensitive identifiers, and filed a further round of suits in mid-December that included Massachusetts. The Brennan Center's tracker catalogs DOJ voter-data demands or suits reaching most states. The department cites the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Civil Rights Act; defendant states dispute that those laws require producing unredacted personal data.

    Stateline ↗GBH News ↗Brennan Center for Justice ↗
15. November 4, 2025States

    Texas voters approve Proposition 16 affirming citizens-only voting

    Texas voters approved a state constitutional amendment declaring that only U.S. citizens may vote, which affirms existing law and does not itself create a documentation requirement. It followed the failure of Senate Bill 16, a sweeping proof-of-citizenship registration bill that passed the Texas Senate in April 2025 but died in the House without a floor vote. Texas mail-ballot eligibility rules were otherwise unchanged for the 2026 cycle.

    Votebeat ↗Ballotpedia ↗The Texas Tribune ↗
16. October 31, 2025Courts

    Court permanently bars citizenship-proof mandate in 2025 elections order

    Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted summary judgment in LULAC v. Executive Office of the President, permanently enjoining Executive Order 14248's directive that the Election Assistance Commission add a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, and in a January 30, 2026 follow-up permanently enjoined related provisions on citizenship assessments for public-assistance registrants and federal data screening. The administration appealed to the D.C. Circuit (No. 25-05476) on December 23, 2025; the appeal remained pending as of September 2026.

    Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse ↗LULAC ↗League of Women Voters ↗
17. September 16, 2025Agencies

    DOJ sues Maine and Oregon for voter rolls; six more states sued September 25

    The Justice Department filed its first lawsuits seeking states' complete voter registration lists, including birth dates, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, against Maine and Oregon, then sued California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania on September 25. A federal judge dismissed the Oregon suit on January 27, 2026, finding the department's demand unsupported by the statutes it invoked; other cases continued into 2026.

    U.S. Department of Justice ↗NPR ↗NBC News ↗
18. August 18, 2025White House

    Trump pledges executive order to end mail-in ballots and voting machines

    In a Truth Social post, President Trump said he would 'lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS' and voting machines before the 2026 midterms and said lawyers were drafting an executive order. Election-law experts across the spectrum noted states, not the president, set voting methods. No order ending mail voting was signed in 2025; the administration's follow-up came March 31, 2026, as Executive Order 14399's narrower citizenship-list and USPS provisions, and voting machines remain in use nationwide.

    NPR ↗CNN ↗Time ↗
19. June 30, 2025Agencies

    EAC drafts voting-system guideline changes limiting ballot barcodes

    Acting on Executive Order 14248's directive, the Election Assistance Commission circulated a draft VVSG 2.1 that would restrict encoding votes in barcodes or QR codes except on accessible devices for voters with disabilities. The Help America Vote Act's required process (advisory-board review, a 90-day comment period and a commissioner vote) meant the change could not meet the order's timeline, and VVSG 2.0, adopted in 2021, remained the most recent final standard as of September 2026; the EAC certified the first VVSG 2.0 system on July 10, 2025. (Item dated to the June 30, 2025 report on the draft.)

    Votebeat ↗Congressional Research Service ↗U.S. Election Assistance Commission ↗
20. May 1, 2025States

    North Carolina auditor's appointees take control of State Board of Elections

    Under a December 2024 law that moved election-board appointment power from the governor to the state auditor, Auditor Dave Boliek appointed three new members, creating a 3-2 Republican majority on the State Board of Elections. The board and auditor subsequently reshaped agency leadership and county board chair appointments that govern 2026 early-voting plans, and the board continued a 'Registration Repair' effort, under a settlement with the national parties, to collect missing driver's license or Social Security numbers from roughly 70,000 voters.

    North Carolina State Auditor ↗NBC News ↗Carolina Journal ↗
21. April 28, 2025States

    North Dakota requires absentee ballots to arrive by Election Day

    Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed House Bill 1165, ending the state's practice of counting mail ballots postmarked by the day before the election and received afterward; ballots other than military ballots must now reach election officials by the close of polls on Election Day. Sponsors said the change aligned state law with President Trump's March 2025 executive order. The law took effect August 1, 2025, and the 2026 midterms are its first federal general election.

    North Dakota Monitor ↗North Dakota Monitor ↗Ballotpedia ↗
22. April 24, 2025Courts

    Judge halts citizenship-proof provisions of Trump elections order

    In consolidated cases brought by LULAC, the League of Women Voters and Democratic party committees, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly preliminarily enjoined Executive Order 14248's sections 2(a) and 2(d), which directed a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement on the federal registration form and citizenship assessments for public-assistance registrants. The court wrote that the Constitution entrusts election regulation to Congress and the states, not the president, while declining at that stage to block the order's mail-ballot deadline and funding provisions.

    CBS News ↗Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse ↗
23. March 26, 2025States

    Utah sets Election Day receipt deadline and phases out universal ballot mailing

    Gov. Spencer Cox signed HB 300, requiring mail ballots to be in clerks' possession by 8 p.m. on election night rather than postmarked by the day before, and phasing out automatic mailing of ballots to all voters: beginning in 2029 voters must opt in to receive mail ballots. Starting in 2026, voters must also write the last four digits of a state ID or Social Security number on the return envelope. The receipt deadline and ID requirements apply to the November 2026 midterms.

    The Salt Lake Tribune ↗Utah News Dispatch ↗The Hill ↗
24. March 25, 2025White House

    Trump signs Executive Order 14248 on proof of citizenship and ballot deadlines

    The order, 'Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,' directed the Election Assistance Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form, conditioned federal election funding on states not counting mail ballots received after Election Day, directed changes to voting-system guidelines to bar QR-code vote tabulation, and ordered federal citizenship-data screening of voter rolls. Courts enjoined its central provisions in 2025 and 2026: the proof-of-citizenship mandate is permanently enjoined (on appeal), and the funding and deadline provisions are blocked as to Washington and Oregon.

    Federal Register ↗Congressional Research Service ↗Brennan Center for Justice ↗
25. March 11, 2025Agencies

    CISA ends support for election security information-sharing programs

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency cut roughly $10 million in annual funding to the Center for Internet Security, ending federal support for the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) and scaling back the MS-ISAC, after a March 3 letter said the work no longer supported department priorities. The EI-ISAC, which provided free threat monitoring and incident support to state and local election offices, ceased operations, leaving states to replace those services for the 2026 cycle.

    Votebeat ↗The Record ↗Governing ↗

This timeline records public, documented government actions that affect how ballots are requested, sent, returned, and counted. It is descriptive, not a verdict; fact-checks of specific claims about voting live in the elections topic.