Another voter roll lawsuit tossed and more news from the states

Good evening. In Washington state today, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking the state’s voter rolls — the latest in a string of losses over the issue. 

In Utah, disability watchdogs are urging more state oversight after the deaths of three people in state care. Across the country, volunteers are preparing for Save a Life Day, which aims to raise awareness of harm reduction among drug users. 

In federal court, advocates are moving forward with challenges to President Donald Trump’s latest orders aiming to curtail birthright citizenship. And in several states, the high-profile Lindsay Clancy case could spur legislative action on postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday tossed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Washington seeking the state’s voter rolls, in line with many rulings across the country, Washington State Standard reports. 

This marks the 25th case that the U.S. Department of Justice has lost in its push to access sensitive voter information. The Justice Department has sued many states for voter rolls, and has yet to have a judge rule in its favor. At least 16 states led by Republicans have provided or said they would provide their full voter registration lists, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. 

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said the decision “reaffirms that my office has every right to protect voter’s private data.”

The Justice Department has threatened Hobbs over election records, directing him early this month to preserve documents from the 2024 election. Failing to do so “may constitute spoliation of evidence, which may subject you to civil and criminal sanctions,” according to a letter to Hobbs.

Months after three Utahns with disabilities died in the care of a Utah company, its license has been revoked and a caretaker charged with murder. 

And now a watchdog organization is calling attention to its view of the state’s role in what happened that day in February, when authorities say the group was left alone in a vehicle for hours, Utah News Dispatch reports. 

“This tragedy occurred because DHHS (the Utah Department of Health and Human Services) allows high risk providers to serve individuals with complex support needs and large budgets to support those needs without appropriate oversight and accountability,” the Disability Law Center said in a report.

In a prepared, unsigned statement, the department said “the stories outlined in the Disability Law Center’s report weigh heavily on us. When safety is compromised and lives are lost, we feel it deeply. We absolutely agree that taxpayer dollars should be used as intended.”

The Missouri Supreme Court had barely settled the immediate question of which congressional map is legally in effect before some state Republicans began looking ahead to drawing another one, Missouri Independent reports. 

But two measures on the Nov. 3 ballot could make another mid-decade redraw extraordinarily difficult — and potentially complicate Missouri’s redistricting fights for years to come.

If voters reject Proposition A, the congressional boundaries enacted in 2022 would remain in place. And if they also approve Amendment 6, lawmakers could face an 80% threshold in both the House and Senate, as well as another statewide vote, before changing the map again prior to the 2030 census.

Related: Poll finds opposition to Maryland redistricting ballot question

Arkansas: A federal appeals panel is considering whether to allow six school districts to enforce a 2025 state law requiring Ten Commandments displays in all public school classrooms.

Florida: The campaign to lower the legal age for Floridians to purchase long guns got a boost after the Trump administration issued an opinion declaring the federal ban on handgun sales to 18-to-20-year-olds violates the Second Amendment.

New Jersey: Gun rights advocates have a new target in their push to strike down the state’s longstanding prohibitions on weapons, suing to overturn state restrictions on the use of items like knives, stun guns, slingshots, brass knuckles, bear spray, and bats for self-defense.

Maryland: Seven federally recognized Native American tribes are ending their bid to formally join the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, saying they have been disappointed by the response from Bay Program leaders.

Virginia: Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger called on Congress to set national rules for artificial intelligence, warning that its rapid development could threaten jobs, privacy and public resources if oversight remains largely in the hands of the companies building it.

Indiana: State health officials haven’t defined who will qualify for a medical frailty exemption from forthcoming Medicaid work requirements, with just three months before the requirements take effect.

New Hampshire: In her final months in office, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is making a last-minute push for what has been a personal crusade: lower insulin prices.

New Mexico: Despite the construction of about 62,000 housing units in recent years, the state still struggles with housing affordability, uneven regional growth and increasing homelessness, according to a new report.

Georgia: A new state law makes most Atlanta-area county elections nonpartisan. Two district attorneys filed lawsuits challenging the measure.

Sarah Stone, a West Virginia organizer for Save a Life Day, holds several drug testing strips, which detect the presence of contaminants like fentanyl and xylazine. (Photo by Lori Kersey/West Virginia Watch)

The organizers of Save a Life Day — an annual naloxone distribution planned for Thursday — aim to keep promoting harm reduction, even after the Trump administration shifted federal funding away from some supplies that make drug use safer. 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration said that federal grants must not be used to purchase the testing supplies, which advocates say are an important safety tool for drug users.

On Thursday, volunteers representing health departments, healthcare providers, community organizations and more will distribute naloxone — a drug that reverses an opioid overdose  — at more than 1,000 sites in all 50 states. The theme of this year’s Save a Life Day is “elevate harm reduction.” 

Read more from West Virginia Watch.

A New Hampshire federal judge seemed skeptical during a Tuesday hearing that a civil rights group could continue with a challenge to block President Donald Trump’s second attempt to redefine the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, suggesting that a new lawsuit might be needed, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

The American Civil Liberties Union last month asked federal Judge Joseph Normand Laplante to clarify a preliminary injunction he issued  that blocked Trump’s first executive order that tried to deny citizenship to certain babies. The ACLU wanted to know if the preliminary injunction also applied to Trump’s two new executive orders that would redefine birthright citizenship.

Trump’s most recent executive orders would deny citizenship to babies born in the United States to parents deemed part of a designated terrorist organization and to parents who purposefully came to the United States to gain citizenship in what critics call “birth tourism.” 

Earlier this month, Maryland federal Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction that barred the orders from taking effect.

More immigration coverage:

Federal officials charged a Utah letter carrier Tuesday with throwing 300 primary ballots in a church parking lot dumpster, an incident that a top U.S. Justice Department official said made the case for stricter regulations of voting, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

The Justice Department gave the arrest an unusually high profile, spotlighting the administration’s efforts to combat voter fraud after the U.S. Supreme Court this month blocked a new U.S. Postal Service rule limiting mail voting from going into effect for this year’s elections.

More from the D.C. Bureau: 

The mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial earlier this month places her future in doubt, three years after she killed her three children in Duxbury, Massachusetts. But one potential outcome is a state legislative push to boost mental health support for new mothers, Stateline reports. 

“Becoming a mother is a profound life change, and every parent deserves support — not just during pregnancy, but in the months that follow,” Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement announcing new proposed funding to expand mental health care services for mothers of newborns. “Postpartum depression, anxiety and other maternal mental health conditions are real medical conditions, and no mother should feel ashamed to ask for help or feel like she has to navigate this journey alone.”

Several other states took action this year. 

Pursuing a similar strategy to Massachusetts, Illinois enacted a law that aims to support at-home mental health screenings for all new mothers. 

Other states focused on insurance coverage: Maryland enacted a law requiring the state’s Medicaid program and some other insurers to cover screenings for postpartum depression, while a new law in Virginia mandates that all insurance plans offered in the state cover maternal mental health screenings. 

More from Stateline: States file new lawsuits against Trump’s payouts stopping offshore wind

A six-week advertising campaign launched Tuesday by the nonprofit group ReCenter Indiana features young Hoosiers going to vote and sharing their experience, Indiana Capital Chronicle reports. 

It’s directed specifically at residents of Marion, Hamilton and Boone counties between the ages of 18 and 24.

The videos were recorded during Indiana primary voting in May. Outside their respective polling places, the young adult voters are shown sharing their personal feelings about the voting process and what the experience means to them. The videos do not mention candidates or political parties.

ReCenter Indiana has made young adult voters a special focus of its work to strengthen civic engagement and voter participation. In the 2024 general election, only 39% of Hoosier young adults voted, according to Tufts CIRCLE 2024 youth voting report. That compares to the national young adult turnout rate of 47%. For eligible voters of all ages, Indiana is perennially among the states with the lowest turnouts.

“Instead of actors reading scripts, our videos feature authentic, young Hoosier voters — saying in their own words — why they’re enthusiastic about voting,” said Jocelyn Vare, executive director of ReCenter Indiana. “And, importantly, these voting experiences are built around the invitation, ‘Hey, can I vote with you?’”

The nonpartisan group’s campaign will run through Election Day, Nov. 3, on YouTube, Instagram and connected TV services including Netflix, HBO and Peacock.