The Trump administration is working to undermine the 2026 midterms. We can’t let them succeed.
East Lansing voting precinct | Susan J. Demas
After months of legal proceedings, a federal judge dismissed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit attempting to extract sensitive voter data, including social security numbers, from the Michigan Department of State, making it the third DOJ voter rolls lawsuit to be thrown out.
This wasn’t just a procedural win. It protected the personal data of nearly seven million registered Michigan voters and reaffirmed that our state’s elections are governed by Michigan law, not through federal intimidation.
Despite the fact that the DOJ has already appealed the decision , for now, it is a critical win that protects voter data and upholds local election officials’ legal responsibility to maintain and run elections, but it’s also a proofpoint of what can happen when election officials, no matter their party, stand up for the democratic system and the people they represent.
The reality is that the administration’s continued attempts to take away voters’ power and influence election results to their advantage will continue, but the voters and election officials tasked with upholding Americans’ freedom to vote must defend our institutions from these authoritarian wannabes.
However, there is already a playbook for standing up for our neighbors and our freedoms. With so much news flooding our feeds daily, it can be easy to forget just how many instances of resistance there are to this administration’s shameless pursuit of grift and unfettered power. The people of Minneapolis showed up for their neighbors in the face of masked federal agents terrorizing their immigrant communities.
When Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to leverage further violence against Minnesotans after the killing of Alex Pretti to extort sensitive voter data, the Minnesota Secretary of State stood strong, refusing to bend to her threats.
When the Department of Justice filed lawsuits against nearly half of American states, Secretaries of State and Attorneys General across party lines have defended their constituents’ data, just like the Michigan lawsuit that was thrown out. It’s also important to remember that Michigan has faced this pressure before and won. In 2020, false claims about absentee ballots in Detroit led to harassment, threats, and armed protests.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson faced demonstrators outside her home. Election workers across the state were targeted simply for doing their jobs. These are not theoretical concerns; they actually happened here in Michigan. But no matter the threat, election officials ensured that vote counts were accurate and elections were run fairly, even in the face of political extremism.
The ballot box is the biggest threat to Trump’s authoritarian agenda. That is why he and his administration are pushing three pieces of legislation that seek to make it harder for eligible voters to cast their ballots, whether through restrictions on voting by mail or by requiring voters to present a passport or birth certificate upon registering to vote or upon voting.
However, these restrictions are in direct opposition to voting protections passed by Michigan voters in 2022. Proposal 2 placed early voting and expanded absentee access directly into our state constitution, and made clear that Michiganders support accessible elections. Any effort to undermine those protections ignores the will of voters in our state.
As we head into the 2026 midterms, Michigan will once again be at the center of national attention. High-turnout counties such as Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Kent, and Washtenaw will likely face heightened scrutiny and misinformation about their elections. We should expect attempts to confuse voters about deadlines, election procedures, and certification.
While our systems are imperfect, voting is one of the only direct levers we have to build a better future. If we don’t do everything we can to protect our access to the ballot box and show up in this midterm election, that freedom may be irreparably limited in ways we have not seen in the modern era for many marginalized communities, especially communities of color and women.
Michigan voters have already shown that we value voters’ freedom to cast a ballot and have it count. In 2026, we must do it again. The most powerful response to attempts to undermine our vote is simple. We show up.
