Maryland officials have moved on multiple fronts to counter Trump administration actions touching state elections, as new national polling finds widespread public anxiety about the integrity of the voting process heading into the 2026 midterms.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has been party to two separate multistate legal fights this year. A federal judge in Maryland dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking the state’s complete, unredacted voter registration file — data that includes voters’ dates of birth, addresses and partial Social Security numbers — marking the ninth time a federal court has rejected a similar DOJ demand nationwide. Federal officials have said in related cases that they sought the data to verify states’ compliance with federal voter-roll maintenance requirements. Separately, a federal court in Massachusetts blocked a Trump executive order that sought to build a national list of eligible voters and direct the U.S. Postal Service to withhold mail ballots from anyone not on it, ruling the order unconstitutional as applied to the 2026 election.
Meanwhile, a new Gallup-Charles F. Kettering Foundation poll found 73% of Americans are worried about some part of the election process, including 67% who fear political leaders will pressure election officials to alter results and 52% concerned about intimidation near polling places. Derek Barker, the foundation’s senior research initiatives program officer, said the findings should be taken seriously by elected leaders, warning that widespread doubt in the electoral process could make authoritarianism and political violence more acceptable — what he called “a warning sign.” The poll also found 77% of respondents worried about gerrymandering, a concern Barker linked to the redistricting fights that have spread across several states since Texas Republicans redrew congressional maps last year at President Trump’s urging. Barker argued the shared, bipartisan concern over these issues could create an opening for leaders across the political spectrum to reach a broader agreement on election reform, one he believes would draw solid majority support.
That redistricting wave has now reached Maryland. State Senate leaders had resisted joining the trend earlier this year, but the political calculus shifted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act and set off a new round of Republican-led redistricting in Southern states. Maryland lawmakers passed House Bill 2100 during a special session this month, putting a constitutional amendment before voters in November that would make it easier for the legislature to redraw congressional districts before the 2028 election. Gov. Wes Moore has defended the measure as a response to Republican gerrymandering elsewhere, saying it would ensure Maryland voters — not outside actors — have the final say over their own representation.
The measure is already facing a legal challenge. Republican lawmakers and the conservative Oversight Project sued in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court this month, arguing the amendment missed a state deadline for certifying ballot questions and improperly combines unrelated provisions in violation of Maryland’s single-subject rule for constitutional amendments. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 25, with the outcome determining whether the redistricting question appears on the November ballot at all.
