This weekly update summarizing legislative activity affecting voting and elections is powered by the Voting Rights Lab. Sign up for VRL’s weekly newsletter here.
The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,201 bills so far this session, with 580 bills that tighten voter access or election administration and 1,054 bills that expand the rules. The rest are neutral, mixed or unclear in their impact.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision issued Tuesday may result in the rejection of timely mail ballots cast by registered Pennsylvania voters who simply forgot to date their mail ballot envelopes. And the high court in Delaware ruled that new laws granting no-excuse mail voting and same-day voter registration violate the state’s Constitution.
Meanwhile, a Texas court ordered Bexar County – home to about 2 million people – to open over 100 more polling places than originally planned for the upcoming election. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer signed an election reform package on Friday that includes legislation to allow clerks to start processing mail ballots prior to Election Day. The North Carolina Supreme Court ensured that voters who had their mail ballots witnessed or notarized will not also be subject to signature matching.
Following an appellate court order issued Monday, Wisconsin voters can still cancel their returned mail ballots prior to Election Day. And in Kentucky, the Louisville Metro Council is considering a resolution calling for a mail ballot drop box inside the local jail for inmates who have been charged – but not convicted – of a crime.
Looking ahead: A new lawsuit in Nye County, Nev., challenges hand count procedures, including a process that involves live-streaming the reading of ballots starting two weeks before Election Day.
Here are the details:
Supreme Court decision may result in the rejection of timely mail ballots cast by registered Pennsylvania voters who forgot to date their mail ballot envelopes. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court vacated an appellate court decision, and as a result Pennsylvania counties may be able to reject timely ballots cast by eligible, registered voters if the voter forgot to date their mail ballot envelopes. The 3ird U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that counties cannot reject otherwise valid ballots simply because they are missing a date. The circuit court found that the date next to the signature is immaterial since it was not used to determine the timeliness of the ballot and the Voting Rights Act prohibits states from rejecting ballots for immaterial reasons.
Delaware high court invalidates election reforms. The Delaware Supreme Court struck down legislation enacted earlier this year establishing no-excuse mail voting and same-day voter registration. The court held that the state Constitution does not allow the General Assembly to institute these policies. Delaware will be one of 15 states where voters must provide a special reason – or “excuse” – to vote by mail this election, and one of 22 states where voters cannot register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day.
Texas county ordered to open more than 100 additional polling places than originally planned. A Texas court ordered Bexar County to open at least 388 polling places on Election Day, ruling that number to be the minimum required under state law. The county had planned to open as few as 259 voting locations. Bexar County is home to about 2 million people, three quarters of whom live in San Antonio.
Michigan governor signs election reform package, including legislation to allow clerks to start processing mail ballots before Election Day. Whitmer signed several bills to implement changes to the administration of mail voting for this November’s election. Most notably, H.B. 4491 will allow clerks in jurisdictions with at least 10,000 residents to begin processing and verifying mail ballots two days before Election Day. Prior to the enactment of the bill, election officials had to wait until the morning of Election Day to begin processing mail ballots. The bill also ensures that people who have died are removed from the voter registration list and clarifies rules about drop boxes. The bill passed with nearly unanimous support in both chambers of the Legislature and will be in place for the Nov. 8 general election. The governor also signed legislation to enable military voters to return their ballots electronically, beginning in 2024.
North Carolina Supreme Court rejects request for signature matching. The North Carolina Supreme Court rejected a request by the state’s Republican Party to allow counties to conduct signature matching on absentee ballots. The State Board of Elections issued a directive earlier this year stating that the law does not allow for signature matching. North Carolina law already requires that ballot envelopes be signed by two witnesses or a notary.
Nevada County sued to stop hand count procedures that include live-streaming the reading of ballots for two weeks before Election Day. The ACLU of Nevada sued Nye County because the announced hand count process involves live-streaming the reading of ballots starting on Oct. 25, two weeks before Election Day. Premature release of results is a crime. In addition, the suit challenges the county’s decision to limit who can use electronic voting machines to those whom election workers determine have “special needs.” Additionally, the process the county intends to use to match voters’ signatures on ballot certificates also allegedly violates state law. The suit seeks an order to stop these proposed practices.
Wisconsin voters can still cancel their returned mail ballots prior to Election Day. Under current law, Wisconsin voters may cancel or “spoil” their returned mail ballot before Election Day if they realize they made a mistake or change their mind about how they wish to vote. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed a lawsuit seeking to end this practice, and on Oct. 5 a Waukesha County judge granted a injunction that would temporarily ban it. However, on Monday the Wisconsin Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay to that decision, meaning the practice can continue this election.
Louisville Metro Council considers providing a mail ballot drop box in jail. In Kentucky, the Louisville Metro Council is considering a resolution calling for a mail ballot drop box inside Metro Corrections. The jail houses some inmates who are legally eligible to vote, including those who have been charged – but not convicted – of a crime. Kentucky law prohibits people from voting if they are incarcerated following a conviction, but those who have only been charged with a crime may still vote.
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.