The ACLU: A One-Stop Shop for Voters

Anchorage, AK – The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Alaska, Common Cause, and League of Women Voters of Alaska issued statements today after a federal judge rejected the Department of Justice’s last-minute attempt to block Alaska’s Senate election results if the Republican candidate did not win. “This desperate attempt to disenfranchise Alaska voters has been swiftly thrown out of court, and that is a win for democracy,” said Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “The court’s get-out-and-don’t-come-back ruling makes clear that preemptively blocking election results and running an inquisition into the sincerity of voters’ choices would be flatly illegal. Every American should be alarmed that their own Justice Department tried to put voters on trial for how they might vote. That should never happen in this country. The rule of law held, and voters should go to the polls with their heads held high. Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Alaska, and individual Alaska voters, represented by the ACLU National Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of Alaska, intervened to protect the voting rights of Alaskans. The ruling rejects DOJ’s lawsuit because the relief the federal government sought was illegal and would have disrupted Alaska’s elections on the eve of voting and violated Alaskans’ right to a secret ballot. “This ruling is a victory for the people of Alaska, reaffirming their voices will be heard, and their votes will be counted,” said Virginia Kase Solomon, president and CEO of Common Cause. “The Trump administration keeps trying tricks to interfere in our election, but they keep failing because our democracy and people-power is strong. Common Cause will continue to defend Americans’ freedom to vote in free and fair elections because politicians don’t dictate election outcomes, people do.” “Today the court upheld our most fundamental voting rights by dismissing the federal government’s frivolous lawsuit,” said Lu-Anne Haukaas Lopez, Executive Director for the ACLU of Alaska. “The decision affirmed what we already know: Alaskans – not the president- decide our elections. The ACLU of Alaska is watching this election closely for other attempts to undermine our elections. We remain committed to protecting and defending the voting rights of all Alaskans.” “We are grateful the district court defended democracy today by dismissing this groundless, frivolous lawsuit,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters. “The voters of Alaska have the right to decide who represents them in the United States Senate, and the Department of Justice has no right to interfere through its groundless demands.” Counting every vote takes time, and it’s unlikely that Alaskans will have final results on Election Night. Alaska election officials follow strict state laws that include steps for receiving, checking, processing, counting, reviewing, and certifying ballots. Some ballots, including mail ballots or ballots that require verification, may take longer to count. Election officials are required by law to certify the election results.  

Exactly one week before the November 3, 2026, midterm elections, the Potter County Republican Party filed a baseless lawsuit challenging the vote tabulation and certification processes counties across Texas have used without flaw for years. They seek an order mandating a hand count of paper ballots across all Texas counties, the results of which a court must confirm, before certification of the U.S. senate race in Texas can proceed. Representing the NAACP Texas State Conference, the League of Women Voters of Texas, MOVE Texas Civic Fund, and Common Cause, the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Carter Law group moved to intervene in this lawsuit to defend voters’ interests in the accurate and timely counting of their votes.

ATLANTA — Voting rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Legal Defense Fund (LDF), filed an emergency lawsuit on behalf of nearly 2,000 Gwinnett County voters who are on the brink of being denied their ability to vote by absentee ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The suit, which was filed against the Gwinnett County Board of Registrations and Elections, alleges that Nathan Doyle Huntington and 1,819 other lawfully registered Gwinnett County voters did not receive their requested absentee ballots on time, resulting in return rates drastically below the state average. The alleged delays have primarily impacted ballots issued after Oct. 6 and extend into Cobb and DeKalb counties, affecting about 10,000 voters in total. “No voter should lose their voice because an absentee ballot they requested never made it to their mailbox,” said Will Hughes, staff attorney, ACLU Voting Rights Project. “With Election Day just days away, Gwinnett County voters deserve immediate action to ensure they have a meaningful opportunity to cast their ballots and have them counted. We’re asking the court to step in because protecting the right to vote means making sure every eligible voter can actually exercise it.” The suit urges the court to act quickly and defend voters from the failure of the Board of Registrations and Elections to issue absentee ballots in accordance with the law. To ensure all Gwinnett County residents who requested to vote absentee are able to do so, the suit demands that the board: Send an absentee ballot by overnight mail to each affected voter whose ballot is still outstanding, including prepaid overnight return mailing, by 1 p.m. on Oct. 31. Notify potentially impacted voters of their options to ensure their ballots are counted. Accept and tabulate the absentee ballots of all affected voters that are received by Nov. 6, the statutory deadline for curing absentee ballots and for receipt of ballots from overseas and military voters for this election, provided they are postmarked by Nov. 3. However, the court has not ruled yet, and impacted voters should contact the Gwinnett County Board of Registrations and Elections immediately and request an overnight ballot to ensure their ballots are received. Absentee voters can contact the board at 678-226-7210 or Absentee@GwinnettCounty.com. “It is unacceptable that voters are experiencing delays of this scale when voting by absentee,” said Bradley Heard, deputy legal director, SPLC. “Absentee voting is an invaluable mechanism for voters who may otherwise be unable to cast their ballot. Gwinnett County voters, particularly voters of color, will not be deterred from having their voices heard this election, and we will do everything in our power to get their ballots counted.” “Gwinnett County has a responsibility to voters but has refused so far to take all reasonable steps to rectify a known delay with absentee ballots,” said Pilar Whitaker, senior counsel, Legal Defense Fund. “Eligible voters in the county are on the brink of being disenfranchised at a time when the right to vote has already endured attacks on all sides.” “Absentee voters in Gwinnett, through no fault of their own, face the imminent loss of their right to vote in the 2026 general election. Folks should be able to count on their government to do the bare minimum the law requires: Mail absentee ballots on time,” said Raneem Ashrawi, staff attorney, ACLU of Georgia. “The right to vote is our most fundamental constitutional right and the bedrock of all other rights. Gwinnett voters eligible to vote absentee should not pay the steep price of losing their voice because of failures by their local board of elections.” The filing can be found here.

The Department of Homeland Security and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services are subjecting thousands of naturalized American citizens to improper investigations questioning their voting eligibility, and they’re using outdated, faulty data and methods to do so. As a result, these citizens face increasing, unwarranted scrutiny from the federal government and, potentially, disenfranchisement. We’re challenging these unlawful actions and the unreliable data behind them to ensure no eligible voter is targeted or silenced because of them.