American Civil Liberties Union Responds to President Trump's Remarks About Our Elections

WASHINGTON — In 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union will make its largest-ever investment in down ballot races, marking a historic escalation in its “Firewall for Freedom” strategy to protect civil liberties across the country. As part of this new campaign, the ACLU will spend $25.5 million across underfunded but critical state-level campaigns with an outsized impact on American’s rights and freedoms, from key ballot initiatives to state Supreme Court races, secretaries of state races, and state legislative races. “The ACLU and our millions of supporters across the country have been at the forefront of the fight to protect Americans’ civil rights and liberties, but these freedoms remain under attack both at the federal level and in the states. We need to fight back,” said Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU chief political and advocacy officer. “The Firewall for Freedom campaign will allow the ACLU to stop efforts to restrict reproductive and voting rights and protect our democracy at every level of the ballot. We see where the threats are emerging, and we and our supporters are ready to respond. This is our largest-ever down ballot effort with plans to contact hundreds of thousands of voters across our key states to help protect our fundamental rights and freedoms.” In recent campaign cycles, the ACLU and ACLU Foundation together have emerged as the largest institutional player in the ballot measure space on issues of reproductive freedom and democracy, with notable victories in Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, Montana, and Ohio. The ACLU and ACLU Voter Education Fund together have also become one of the biggest spenders in state Supreme Court races. Meanwhile state and local offices have proven increasingly decisive in determining the future of key rights and liberties, including voting rights, abortion access, and LGBTQ rights. This new $25.5 million campaign is a response to the new threats to civil liberties emerging at every level of the ballot and will be complemented by the ACLU’s national organizing infrastructure that helps educate voters and mobilize communities. Working with the ACLU’s 54 affiliates, the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation will work to beat back ballot measures aimed at overturning hard-fought victories to protect abortion rights and overturning the will of the people, as well as investing in initiatives to protect state courts from politicized judicial selections. The ACLU and ACLU Voter Education Fund will educate voters about important state Supreme Court races that impact civil rights and freedoms and equip them with information about how supermajorities in state legislatures can impact civil liberties across the country. The Firewall for Freedom effort will target the following races, ensuring they have the resources to educate voters to make informed decisions when so many resources are flooding into federal campaigns: Seven ballot measures addressing civil liberties in Montana, Kansas, Missouri, and Virginia. Supreme Court races in Michigan, Montana, and North Carolina. State legislative races in Georgia, Michigan, Montana and North Carolina. Secretary of state races in Arizona and Nevada.

We are spending millions across nine states to educate voters on critical races and ballot measures affecting abortion, LGBTQ rights, voting, fair courts, and democracy protections in the 2026 midterm elections.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court issued a decision upholding voters’ rights and permitting Mississippi voters’ ballots that are cast on time to be counted after Election Day according to state law. The decision reverses the Fifth Circuit’s incorrect interpretation of federal Election Day statutes, which would have invalidated decades-old absentee ballot receipt laws and disenfranchised voters who followed all election rules but faced postal delays beyond their control. The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Mississippi, on behalf of the League of Women Voters, Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural, Center for Rural Strategies, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), and Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS), filed an amicus brief arguing that the Fifth Circuit’s decision would have disrupted states’ ability to determine mail-ballot receipt rules in their own state and depending on the needs of their voters and disproportionately harmed voters with disabilities, rural voters, older voters, military and overseas voters, and working people who rely on absentee voting. The coalition released the following statement: “This decision protects the fundamental principle that people should not lose their right to vote because of mail delays outside their control. The Court recognized what states, Congress, and voters have understood for generations: federal law does not require states to discard timely-cast ballots simply because they arrive after Election Day. Today’s ruling preserves critical protections for voters with disabilities, rural communities, older voters, working families, and countless Americans who depend on absentee voting to participate in our democracy.” The organizations emphasized that the ruling preserves states’ flexibility to administer elections in ways that reflect local realities and protects longstanding election practices relied upon by voters nationwide. Read the Court's ruling here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1260_g3cn.pdf

BOSTON — A federal court today declared unconstitutional key portions of President Trump’s executive order restricting mail voting. The executive order, issued in March 2026, unlawfully attempted to seize control of elections by ordering the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of U.S. citizens and by directing the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail voting. The decision came in a case brought by 23 states and the District of Columbia, led by California. The court declared that Sections 2 and 3 of the executive order are legally void and barred federal agencies from using the executive order as a basis to interfere with how plaintiff states maintain their voter rolls or conduct mail voting. The court’s ruling also blocked the U.S. Postal Service from withholding mail ballots from voters not on an approved list in the plaintiff states. The court is also considering a separate legal challenge to the executive order brought by a coalition of nonpartisan voting rights groups in the case LWVMA, et al., v. Trump, et al. That suit was filed by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters, Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), U.S. Vote Foundation, OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA), and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Massachusetts, Brennan Center for Justice, Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC (Advancing Justice - AAJC), and LatinoJustice PRLDEF. Attorneys and plaintiffs in the voting rights group case issued the following joint statement: “As this ruling makes clear, President Trump’s executive order from March 2026 attempting to seize control of elections is unconstitutional and dangerous. “This ruling is a critical step in preserving free and fair elections. The court rightly recognized that the President and the executive branch lack both the legal authority and the capacity to compile a complete and accurate list of U.S. citizens or eligible voters in every state. The ruling also rightly recognizes that the U.S. Postal Service has no authority to limit the distribution of mail ballots. “The court has yet to rule on our request to block the executive order’s provisions on mail voting on behalf of a nonpartisan coalition of voting rights groups. The same reasoning underpinning today’s decision should hold in our case. President Trump’s unlawful executive order violates the separation of powers, threatens the integrity of our elections, and must be enjoined from taking effect in the upcoming primary and midterm elections.”