Trump tries to use Census Bureau to revive 2020 election lies, attack voting

• Trump and the White House are pushing a statistically dodgy U.S. Census Bureau report to breathlessly assert that thousands of noncitizens voted in the 2020 election, the latest attempt by the president to revive claims that he actually won that race. Spoiler alert: He didn’t.
  
  
• Experts said the unbylined report Trump shared “fails the laugh test” by relying on an incomplete commercial voter file and record-matching methods that raise serious concerns about the accuracy of its conclusions.
  
  
• “I would not take that report as robust or high-quality work unless the Census Bureau actually put author names on it,” one expert told Democracy Docket.
  

➤ More on Trump’s dubious claims

California’s U.S. senators call for ‘maximum oversight’ over conspiracist Tina Peters’ new election job

• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D) and Adam Schiff (D) told California Secretary of State Shirley Weber that they have “grave concern” over Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis’ plan to hire Peters as his deputy.
  
  
• The senators are asking the state’s election chief to keep a close eye on Peters, an election denier convicted for her role in a 2021 voting system breach driven by election conspiracy theories.
  

➤ What did the senators write?

Missouri redistricting battle moves toward state Supreme Court showdown

• A grueling, nearly year-long battle to block a Republican congressional gerrymander is entering its final weeks, as a state circuit court heard a challenge today by the group leading the effort to put the gerrymandered map to a referendum vote on November’s ballot.
  
  
• The group is asking the court to reverse Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ (R) decision to keep the measure off the ballot. State officials have tried numerous delay tactics to slow down the effort and deny voters a voice.
  
  
• Multiple lawsuits around the referendum are still moving through the courts, with a final showdown expected in the Missouri Supreme Court.
  

➤ What’s the latest happening in Missouri?

Federal appeals court dismisses right-wing lawsuit seeking access to Wisconsin voter rolls

• A panel of three federal judges on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — all of whom were appointed by Republican presidents — affirmed a lower court’s decision to reject arguments brought by a conservative group, which has a prolific record of filing voter purge lawsuits across the country.

➤ More on the panel’s decision

Judge dismisses lawsuit that sought to stop Trump administration from misusing voter info obtained in Fulton County FBI raid

• In a loss for voters, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to stop the Trump administration from misusing voter information that was contained in the more than 600 boxes of election records that the FBI seized in Fulton County, Georgia, this January.

➤ Read about the case

Myth vs. fact: Mail voting

• Restricting mail voting is a core component of Trump’s plan to undermine the 2026 midterms. And yet, when it came time to cast his own ballot in Florida’s primary this month, Trump voted by mail — again.
  
  
• Confronted with this hypocrisy, Trump has used a convenient excuse: “I’m president of the United States.”

➤ See the myths vs. facts on mail voting

Here we share noteworthy briefs on all things voting rights and democracy. Have a footnote for us? Send it to newsletters@democracydocket.com.

• Darline Graham, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister who is running to replace him in the upper chamber, fumbled through this national security question spectacularly during a recent debate. Yikes.
  
  
• Being known as Trump’s “human printer” can’t feel good, right?
  
  
• As someone who used to cover the Federal Communications Commission extensively, I found this reporting to be quite insightful. Perhaps you all will too, from The Guardian: “Revealed: FCC chair Brendan Carr’s close coordination with White House and rightwing media.”
  
  
• Trump tried to sell his vision for his White House ballroom. Apparently, it will be great for having “cocktails” but will also include “bomb shelters.” The pinnacle of luxury.