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The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,445 bills so far this session, with 572 bills that tighten the rules governing voter access or election administration and 1,087 bills that expand the rules.
Much of last week’s action focused on voter ID requirements. The Missouri Senate’s Local Government and Elections Committee advanced legislation that would make the state’s voter ID law much stricter. But the Arizona House voted to delay implementation of a new law requiring proof of citizenship until after the 2022 general election. New York made it easier to vote for voters with disabilities, college students, and mail voters.
And Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed more legislation. In this case, the bill would have affected independent election administration.
Looking ahead: The Missouri Senate will consider an omnibus election reform bill if it is able to resolve outstanding impasses concerning other topics, including congressional redistricting.
Here are the details:
Arizona House votes to delay proof of citizenship implementation. Amid lawsuits and Gov. Doug Ducey’s attempt to reject a more extreme interpretation of the legislation, the Arizona House voted to delay the effective date for the new requirement that voters provide evidence of citizenship to vote. This new law would not allow people to vote in presidential elections, or in any elections by mail, unless election officials confirmed the person’s citizenship through documentation provided by the voter or an existing database. This new requirement is currently scheduled to take effect between the primary and general elections this year. If the delay is approved by the Senate and Ducey, the requirement will not take effect until after the 2022 general election.
A bill that creates early voting, but also makes the state ID requirement much stricter, advances out of Missouri elections committee. H.B. 1878 was voted out of Missouri’s Senate Local Government and Elections Committee. The bill would only allow citizens to vote in person if they are able to show a photo ID. Under current Missouri law, voters can prove their identity using a variety of ID types, including utility bills, bank statements and paychecks. Notably, before advancing the bill, the committee added language creating up to six weeks of in-person early voting. Missouri is currently one of only seven states that does not generally offer any type of in-person early voting. The bill will now move to the full Senate for consideration, though the Senate remains deadlocked on other issues – including congressional redistricting – that are slowing down consideration of any legislation.
New York makes casting a ballot easier for those with disabilities, students and mail voters. As part of a settlement, the New York State Board of Elections will allow voters with disabilities to request electronic, accessible ballots up to 15 days before any elections. The ballots will also feature raised markers to aid voters with visual impairments. Last week, the Legislature enacted legislation requiring that all absentee ballots include prepaid return postage. The bill also ensures that there is a polling place on every college campus with 300 or more registered voters. This legislation will make it easier for students to vote, particularing with college campuses are divided into multiple districts.
Wisconsin governor vetoes legislation that would interfere with the administration of elections. On Friday, Evers vetoed two election bills. S.B. 213 would have shifted election authority away from the Wisconsin Election Commission by enabling people to skip a WEC administrative process and directly petition the court to test the validity of any decision on the part of an election official. S.B. 936 would have created a performance audit of voting equipment after each general election and made several changes to how the WEC responds to complaints received about violations of election law and the reporting of those complaints.
Maryland legislature passes legislation strengthening its cure process. Last week, the Maryland General Assembly sent S.B. 163 to the governor’s desk. The bill would ensure that voters who forget to sign the oath on their mail ballot are notified and given a chance to correct their error and have their vote counted.
Colorado protects voting for victims of natural disasters. Colorado enacted S.B. 152, which allows people to maintain their voter registrations after their homes have been destroyed by wildfire or other natural disasters, provided the voter intends to rebuild and move back to their residence. Existing law requires a voter’s registration address to match their motor vehicle registration address and income tax address.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.