WASHINGTON, D.C. — Advocates across the United States are warning of what they describe as a coordinated assault on voting rights ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, citing new federal proposals and state laws they say could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, according to a recent report from the Wren Collective.
The report argues the campaign targets mail voting, ballot initiatives and voter identification rules, while prompting renewed legal and legislative resistance around the country.
The newsletter describes the effort as unfolding on two simultaneous fronts, calling it deliberate and systematic. “This assault isn’t random — it’s coordinated suppression,” the report states, citing “federal voting restrictions and similar state attacks.”
According to the Wren Collective, President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order last month that threatened prosecution of election officials and mail carriers who send or deliver ballots to anyone not on a new national voting list compiled by the Department of Homeland Security.
On the federal level, the report says the list relies on “often incomplete or flawed federal data sources” and could “ensnare and disenfranchise many eligible voters.” In the collective’s words, “the actual goal is controlling which voters get ballots, not protecting election integrity.”
The report links that concern to the widespread use of vote-by-mail systems, noting that nearly one-third of American voters cast ballots by mail, including military members, older voters and rural voters.
In Congress, the Wren Collective says the “most restrictive voting bills in congressional history” are now being debated through the SAVE America Act. The measure passed the House on Feb. 11 and is now before the Senate.
According to the report, the legislation could require Americans to present documents such as a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. It argues that more than 21 million Americans do not have ready access to such documents.
The article says younger voters, voters of color and people who changed their name because of marriage or to align with their gender identity would be disproportionately affected.
“These voting bills are ‘show me your papers’ voting laws,” the Wren Collective states, adding the measures are “built on lies about non-citizen voting.”
The report further contends that “all available evidence shows it is virtually nonexistent and when it happens, heavily prosecuted,” citing what it says is data from the Trump administration itself.
Several states, including Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota and Utah, have adopted similar proof-of-citizenship voting laws, according to the report.
In Florida, the newsletter says signature validation fees have risen so sharply that “it would cost $4.5 million to get on the ballot in Florida now.”
The report also points to canvassing restrictions in Arkansas, where it says the state has created “a system designed to block ballot initiatives that contradict GOP priorities” and threatens canvassers with criminal charges for technical errors.
The newsletter also highlights Indiana, where Republican-backed legislation banning student IDs as valid voter identification was blocked by a federal appeals court. The court found the law “selectively excluded” one form of ID that met the same criteria as accepted identification, according to the report.
In Kansas, the Wren Collective says lawmakers passed what it describes as the first law in the nation invalidating existing driver’s licenses and birth certificates for transgender residents while not providing alternative forms of identification.
The report states that identification documents that do not match gender assigned at birth are “no longer valid or provided by the state.”
Many of the laws, the newsletter says, were enacted with emergency clauses to ensure they took effect immediately.
The Wren Collective explicitly connects those efforts to electoral strategy, arguing that “like gerrymandering, these efforts are all designed to give Republicans an unfair advantage in November, as polling continues to show Democrats gaining ground in races across the country.”
At the same time, the report says opposition is growing nationwide. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi recently introduced the Free Elections Act to prevent the federal government from using emergency powers to interfere with elections.
The newsletter also says representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and two transgender Kansans filed lawsuits seeking to block Kansas’ ID revocation law.
In March, New Mexico became “the first state to pass legislation prohibiting armed federal agents from showing up at polling locations,” according to the report.
“Fierce resistance is growing,” the newsletter concludes. “Legislators, advocacy groups, and everyday Americans are fighting back through lawsuits and organizing. They are winning key battles and refusing to let democracy quietly die.”
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“COORDINATED ASSAULT ON VOTING RIGHTS SPARKS NATIONWIDE RESISTANCE”
Nope, polls from early 2026 indicate that a significant majority of Americans, ranging from 71% to over 80%, support the SAVE Act. Sounds more like nationwide support.