States given clearance for mail-in voting as US supreme court thwarts Trump | First Thing

Civil rights groups have praised verdict on administration’s last-ditch attempt to change midterm voting processes. Plus: all you need to know about last night’s Emmys Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. The supreme court has rejected Donald Trump’s mail ballot restrictions , capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting in the midterm elections already under way.

The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they have used for years. Civil rights groups lauded the decision. “The supreme court has done the right thing,” said Robert Garcia, a Democratic representative from Long Beach, California, adding: “Donald Trump tried to illegally interfere with our elections and undermine vote-by-mail for millions of Americans and failed.

We will keep fighting to protect the right to vote of every single citizen in this country.” What has a DHS whistleblower said about “voter fraud” investigations? An anonymous whistleblower said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers told officers investigating “voter fraud” they would not be held responsible for violating state laws around accessing voter registration information.

The whistleblower also expressed concern about the reliability of the data DHS was giving officers to review, as well as the lack of transparency into where the data came from. Why is Trump facing a bipartisan AI backlash? Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing in...

Read the original report at The Guardian.