Administration asks US Supreme Court to uphold sweeping Trump order restricting vote-by-mail - Jacob Fischler, States Newsroom
The Trump administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a district court ruling that blocked President Donald Trump’s broad March 31 executive order restricting vote-by-mail.
The move came just two days after a federal appeals court denied the administration’s request to resume the controversial plan, which would force significant limits and voter information collection requirements on states in regard to vote-by-mail.
It also sets up a high-stakes confrontation at the high court between the administration and the 23 states that sued over the Trump order, a little more than three months before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
“The district court has issued an extraordinary injunction barring federal agencies from implementing an Executive Order promoting election integrity in the upcoming federal elections in November,” wrote Solicitor General D. John Sauer in his petition to the high court.
Sauer argued the executive order should not be blocked because, among other things, the U.S. Postal Service has not yet come up with a final rule on how it would be implemented.
Appeals court ruling
A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court ruling last month that blocked the order because the U.S. Constitution grants states — not the president — authority to administer elections.
The executive order “directs unprecedented levels of involvement by federal officials in how states administer elections,” two appeals judges, Gustavo A. Gelpí and Julie Rikelman, wrote in a Saturday order. Both were appointed by President Joe Biden.
Gelpí and Rikelman considered and rejected the administration’s argument that states could not challenge the order because the Postal Service rule was not finalized.
The order directed the agency’s final rule to contain a requirement that states start submitting citizenship rosters 60 days from the general election, which is Sept. 4 this year. Allowing the order to go into effect would force states, which have been preparing for the election for months, to use considerable time and funding to create a new election system in mere weeks.
“The Government has failed to convince us that the impact of the (executive order) on the Plaintiff States is ‘hypothetical,’” Gelpí and Rikelman wrote.
The panel’s third judge, Joshua D. Dunlap, concurred in part and dissented in part, noting that the Postal Service rule mandated by the executive order had not been finalized. The timeline suggested by the order, though, would have required states to take immediate action related to mail ballots, he added.
Consequences for states
Time is running out for Trump’s administration to successfully place the restrictions on vote-by-mail before November’s midterm elections 99 days from Monday.
The 1st Circuit panel pointed to the approaching midterms as a reason to block the order for now. A full analysis of the executive order could be considered on a longer timeline, but state election officials faced imminent consequences if they did not begin preparing for the order’s requirements in time for the November general election and September primaries, the judges found.
The order directed the U.S. Postal Service to require states to notify the agency 90 days before an election if they plan to use mail-in ballots and, if so, to send the federal government a list of eligible voters at least two months before the election and before sending ballots to those voters.
Democratic officials in 23 states — California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — and the District of Columbia brought the suit challenging the executive order.
Twelve states with Republican attorneys general — Alabama, Missouri, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas — joined the appeal on the federal government’s side.
Citizenship lists
The executive order also required the Department of Homeland Security, with help from the Social Security Administration, to compile lists of voting-age citizens living in each state, and then provide that information to state officials at least 60 days before each federal election.
The list of citizens would be drawn from naturalization and Social Security records, according to the order. It would also include data from SAVE, a powerful computer program maintained by Homeland Security that verifies citizenship by checking names against information in federal databases.
The district court judge, Indira Talwani, said the executive order did not cite relevant constitutional or legal authority to support the creation of the lists.
Trump erodes faith in mail ballots
Trump has consistently raised unfounded concerns about mail-in voting, which nearly every state allows and some use exclusively.
The practice, especially common in Western states, enjoyed strong bipartisan support until Trump sought to undermine its credibility during the 2020 election cycle.
In 2018, the Pew Research Center found 71% of voters, including 57% of Republicans, supported vote-by-mail.
By the time of an April 2026 poll, Democrats’ favorable opinion of vote-by-mail remained high, but Republican support cratered to 34%.
In the executive order, Trump said restricting mail-in voting would limit voting by noncitizens, another voting issue Trump has often raised without offering evidence it has created a significant integrity problem in any election.
Staff at South Valley charter school joins Teamsters - Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
Staff at a South Valley charter school are the first educators in New Mexico to be represented by the Teamsters.
Teachers at South Valley Academy elected to organize with the Albuquerque-based chapter of the union, Teamsters Local 492, rather than the local chapters of the state’s two teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
“They chose us,” said Teamsters business agent Jerry Thorn. “The way that we approach organizing, the very hands-on way that we do this, was what they preferred. They preferred having somebody much more direct help them with this effort.”
Local 492 represents more than 3,300 workers across New Mexico in various industries including trades, public service and transportation.
“They were proactive and made themselves easily accessible to provide information and answer questions,” said Mary Ellen Fresquez, a high school English teacher at SVA, in a statement. “My teaching conditions are my students’ learning conditions. Having a union improves my conditions and in turn improves students’ conditions."
Other teachers said their new union representation would offer them a sense of protection.
“Public school workers deserve a genuine voice and professional agency,” math teacher Joaquín Sanchez said. “In today's climate of growing wealth inequality and systemic hostility toward workers and immigrants, a union is more than a contract. It is a vital shield, and our way of pushing back against a national reality that seeks to divide us.”
South Valley Academy enrolls around 620 students in grades six through 12 and employs more than 100 staff members, according to executive director Abelardo Batista. The school opened in 1999 and is chartered through Albuquerque Public Schools.
“It’s what we say all the time about how we approach collective bargaining,” Batista said. “We’re here for the mission, the students, and that’s part of it. So we’re going to approach it like we approach anything else here.”
Part of the school’s mission is to foster civic engagement through community service, he said, and to get first-generation students enrolled in college after graduation.
“You want to have a strong team, and this school takes care of our people, and we're going to continue to do that. I think with that attitude, we're only going to be stronger as a whole school,” Batista said.
Bears spotted in Northwest Albuquerque, one nearly jumps into pool - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
A mama bear decided to sunbathe in a Northwest Albuquerque neighborhood before the New Mexico Department of Wildlife came and tranquilized the animal on Sunday. Hours later, they captured her cub.
On Sunday morning, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call of a mother bear and cub seen inside backyards in the 9500 block of Sonterro NW, near Interstate 40 and Arroyo Vista, APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said in an email.
According to two videos provided by APD, the bear walked on the grass at one home and laid down, then climbed over a wall and walked to the edge of a swimming pool before deciding not to dip her claws in the water.
“The bears posed a potential threat to residents, but also to themselves,” NMDOW spokesperson Darren Vaughan said. “It was because of this that department officers decided to capture both bears.”
After officers arrived, a drone was launched, directing them to the bear, Gallegos said.
“The bears were actively trying to keep their distance and avoid the officers and surrounding human activity,” Vaughan said.
The Department of Wildlife tranquilized the mother bear at about 11:30 a.m. Hours later, at 9 p.m., they captured the cub, he said.
Vaughan said due to drought conditions, there has been a “very high number of bear sightings across the state, though the exact number is unknown.”
“Officers are responding to multiple sightings every day across New Mexico,” he said.
Two New Mexico House members officially retire, teeing up Democratic primary winners to replace them - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Two Democrats in the New Mexico House of Representatives officially left office Monday, setting in motion a process to replace them that ultimately ends in the coming weeks at Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.
State Reps. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo) and Joanne Ferrary (D-Las Cruces) had previously announced they intended to retire, but their terms do not end until January. Both told Source NM on Monday that they decided to leave office early to give Democratic primary winners in their districts a chance to start early at the Roundhouse.
County commissions in each House district will meet in the coming weeks to select a replacement before sending their preferred candidates to Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, for approval.
Herrera’s District 41 covers parts of four different counties, so county commissions from Taos, Santa Fe, Sandoval and Rio Arriba will meet separately to name their own preferred replacements.
Commission chairs in each of those four counties did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment Monday about when they might meet and who they are considering. But Sandoval County spokesperson Wayne Johnson told Source NM that the commission could meet in mid-August at the earliest.
Herrera, who served in the Legislature since 2019, told Source NM that she strongly prefers the June 2 Democratic primary election winner Yolanda Jaramillo to serve out the rest of Herrera’s term in the Roundhouse.
“That gives her a head start,” she said. “It’s good for her. It’s good for the district.”
Herrera previously endorsed Jaramillo during her primary election against Debbie Rodella. Jaramillo won the race with 55% of the vote out of roughly 5,500 ballots cast.
Jaramillo told Source NM she is looking forward to making her case to all four county commissions and, if approved, to starting early in the Roundhouse. She is running unopposed in the general election Nov. 3.
As for Ferrary’s House District 37, only the Doña Ana County Commission will need to weigh in on a replacement, because the district sits entirely within that southern New Mexico county’s boundaries.
Ferrary told Source NM that she is hopeful commissioners, who are all Democrats, will submit Lori Martinez’s name to the governor. Martinez defeated Tilly Villalobos in the Democratic primary in June.
But unlike Jaramillo, Martinez has an opponent in the November election. She will face Republican Isabella Solis.
Solis told Source NM on Monday that she thinks Ferrary is unfairly advantaging Martinez by dropping out early and paving the way for Martinez to be a sitting House 37 representative when the election occurs.
“Her goal is to put her finger on the scale, like a switcheroo,” she said. “I think that oftentimes there could be advantages of incumbency, but frankly, New Mexico is in such bad shape and constantly ranking last. In this political environment, being an incumbent is not necessarily helpful.”
Ferrary told Source NM that Martinez being in office during the election may benefit Martinez, but not by much. She’s confident Martinez will win regardless.
“It could [help], but I also believe that Democrats are going to have a really good turnout in the November election,” she said.
Martinez did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment Monday.
New Mexico animal shelters receive $2 million in state funding - Payton Jackson, Albuquerque Journal
Animal shelters across New Mexico are receiving a combined $2 million to improve facilities.
The Department of Finance and Administration has allocated $2 million to renovation and construction projects across the state through the New Mexico Animal Welfare Program. The funding was split across 17 shelters in various cities, towns and counties.
“The New Mexico Animal Welfare Program reflects the state's commitment to supporting local communities in various ways,” said Henry Valdez, director of legislative and local government affairs. “These awards will help shelters statewide meet basic needs and improve conditions for the cats and dogs in their care.”
Project sizes and funding amounts vary from $15,000 for a play yard, fencing and drainage improvements in Moriarty to $290,600 for kennel construction, HVAC, drainage and storage upgrades in Bayard.
In Edgewood, $40,000 has been allocated to build a quarantine and isolation facility for the shelter.
“We desperately need it,” said Christine Romero, the animal shelter manager for the town of Edgewood. “When we have a stray come in, we don’t have anywhere to put them besides with the rest of the animals.”
With the new quarantine facility, the shelter will have a place to keep newly rescued animals until their stray hold is up. The facility will also provide a place for sick animals to receive care without risking the health of the other animals in the shelter.
“We had an outbreak of distemper a few years ago,” said Romero. “Being a rural shelter we don’t receive a lot of funding. We’re really grateful that the state decided to fund us.”
According to a Department of Finance and Administration news release, many shelters find themselves in similar situations to the Edgewood’s shelter, and this funding aims to fill some of those gaps.
“Renovations like these, kennel upgrades, HVAC systems, quarantine spaces, are often difficult for local governments to fund on their own, and this program helps make that work possible,” said Valdez.
As Gallup officials respond to recent flooding, they say an AI news outlet is getting in the way - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced emergency orders directing $500,000 to help with statewide flooding disasters, including in Gallup, where historic monsoon rains in McKinley County flooded streets, damaged homes and tested the city’s aging drainage system.
Leah March, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, told Source NM in an email that the funding will provide sandbags, communications assistance and other help from the New Mexico National Guard. State officials also sent a team to Gallup on Friday to help with damage assessments, March said.
“The state is working closely with local officials to get residents the help they need,” she said.
Local officials said in addition to grappling with natural disasters, they were also responding to a new AI news outlet named Prism McKinley County that they say has regularly published false and misleading information in a time of crisis.
For instance, within the last week, Prism published a story about a woman drowning in floods, but the death occurred last year, according to Matt Robinson, Gallup’s tourism and marketing manager. The misleading story caused people to believe the recent floods caused her death, he said. The recent flooding has not caused any deaths or injuries, according to city officials.
“They’re taking things that happened years ago that are negative, bringing them to light, scaring people, and sharing false information,” Robinson said. “It’s really not a good thing.”
Other misleading or false stories include one July 18 that reported that two women were robbed and beaten at a Walmart. The article goes on to say that the robbery actually occurred March 3, 2020, and Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo told Source NM she does not know where the outlet got its information.
Still, the article received roughly 250 shares and dozens of comments, most of which decried security concerns at the Walmart, which is one of the main grocery stores in town.
The misleading posts prompted a Facebook post by the Gallup Police Department advising residents to use “verified sources and/or official government channels to obtain the most dependable information.”
Robinson told Source NM that city officials decided to warn the public about the news outlet during a meeting last week that was otherwise devoted to responding to the floods and a massive water main break.
Six additional Prism sites operate in New Mexico, according to the outlet’s website, though only three appear to have social media accounts. Prism McKinley County, which launched in October, has the largest following of any of them with roughly 7,400 Facebook followers.
Prism Media, an Israeli-based startup, first publicized its operations in May in a press release decrying the disappearance of local news outlets. Dekel Valtzer, who lists himself as Prism Media’s co-founder and CEO on LinkedIn, did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment.
Alex Mahadevan, the director of the Poynter Institute’s digital media literacy project, told Source NM he has been monitoring Prism’s growth across the country and said that the McKinley County example stands out because Prism appears to be basing its articles largely on Facebook posts.
In other areas where Prism has launched, its articles are unattributed, recycled and sometimes false, but are at least based on reporting from other news organizations or credible sources, Mahadevan told Source NM.
“This is an interesting case where it does seem like it must be an actual news desert, and so they don’t have good reporting to go off of,” Mahadevan said of Prism McKinley County. “So they are stuck with siphoning news from Facebook, which any of us who’ve been on Facebook in the past 10 years knows is probably a bad idea.”
The Gallup Independent, the city’s longtime daily newspaper and main source for news, closed in February after more than a century of operation. The town currently has a weekly newspaper, the Gallup Sun, and a monthly community magazine, the Gallup Journey.
