New law in Montana requiring birth year on mail-in ballot leads to thousands of rejected ballots, via Micah Drew dailymontanan.com/2025/11/12/t...

"DOJ asked for 2020 election records. Fulton County responded: By ignoring it." via @calebgroves.bsky.social www.ajc.com/politics/202...

"Trump's Pardon of Giuliani: How Presidential Clemency Powers Work," via @gregorykorte.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

BREAKING: Maine voters reject changes to voting in the state, including requiring photo ID and having a shorter early voting period. Follow AP for live updates.

BREAKING: California voters have approved a new U.S. House map designed to boost Democrats in 2026, aiming to blunt GOP changes elsewhere. Follow AP for live updates.

Just in: USCIS says in news release that election officials have run more than 46 million queries to check voters' citizenship in expanded SAVE tool, and more than half of states have signed up to use the tool or are in the process. Background:

ICYMI: DHS is seeking to collect state driver's license data as it takes on an unprecedented expansion of a system that used to just contain info on immigrants but now has info on hundreds of millions of Americans, including SSNs. Via me & @zachdespart.bsky.social @propublica.org @texastribune.org

The plan is the latest step in an unprecedented Trump administration initiative to pool confidential data from varied sources that it claims will help identify noncitizens on voter rolls, tighten immigration enforcement and expose public benefit fraud.

JUST IN: The Department of Homeland Security says it intends to add state driver’s license information to a swiftly expanding federal system envisioned as a one-stop shop for checking citizenship, raising concerns about privacy and accuracy. www.propublica.org/article/dhs-...

NEW from @jenafifield.bsky.social: recently released agreement gives the Department of Homeland Security access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ Social Security data. It contains alarmingly few provisions to ensure accuracy and privacy, experts say. www.propublica.org/article/dhs-...

Important new story from @jenafifield.bsky.social

It's been more than a year since AZ announced that, over the course of 20 years, it failed to collect citizenship proof for 200K voters. News coverage has mostly moved on but I'm glad @votebeat.org is staying on it, because the consequences for voters are just now coming to bear...

Arguments are getting kind of heated. Listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Ea...

Five years after trying to aid Trump, Pennsylvania’s Fulton County faces steep penalty, from Carter Walker / Votebeat www.votebeat.org/pennsylvania...

Tomorrow: Supreme Court to hear arguments in pivotal case on the Voting Rights Act www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/supr...

The new owner of Dominion tells Colorado clerks he isn't an election conspiracist, according to @9NEWS www.9news.com/article/news...

The company buying Dominion runs one of the most popular software programs for e-pollbooks (which voters use to check into polling places). www.axios.com/2025/10/09/d...

Hi everyone! 👋 I'm officially up and running at @propublica.org covering election and voting issues, and expanding my sourcing nationally. Spread the word. Reach out, say hi, introduce yourself, send tips: [email protected] Cell: 480-476-0108 Signal: jenafifield.01

Arizona 'fake elector' freed from probation, via @azcapmedia tucson.com/news/state-r...

Great news for those following the upcoming trial of Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby... the trial will be livestreamed after jury is selected. Starts Oct 30, via Terri Jo Neff w/ Herald Review.

"Federal funding for state and local governments’ main cybersecurity resource expired on Wednesday following the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate it, signaling major security risks ahead for... jurisdictions across the US," via @ericgeller www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ms-isac...

Trump administration sued over 'Orwellian' national citizenship database, via @courthousenews.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/trump-admini...

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m joining ProPublica to cover voting issues nationally. I am so excited to work alongside some of the most skilled investigative journalists in the country at such a respected organization. I start Monday. www.propublica.org/atpropublica...

Arizona journalists, apply here: workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau... STRONGLY recommend! DM/text with questions, I'm happy to talk.

Some personal news. Tomorrow is my last day at Votebeat. I will miss it here so much. I also can't wait to tell you soon where I'm going next.

The vote to send a letter to the Justice Department came a day after a judge rejected Crosby’s request to postpone a Sept. 22 hearing for setting his trial date. The judge decided that the hearing will proceed.

NEW: Arizona’s Cochise County asks Justice Department to look back at 2022 election www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

Amazing photo of the Cougar Shadow on the Superstition Mountains taken by Jack Olson, an Apache Junction resident. He took this photo Sunday, September 14 at 6:24 p.m. The shadow can be seen on certain days, twice a year in March and September. Shared with his permission.

JUST IN: On the pending criminal trial for the Arizona official who voted to delay the canvass of the 2022 midterm election... A judge just rejected Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby's request to delay his case. The dates for his trial will still be set next Monday, Sept. 22.

Prop. 211 challengers tell AZ Supreme Court that election disclosure law violates privacy, via @CamrynSanchezAZ www.kjzz.org/politics/202...

When veteran Republic columnist Abe Kwok got fired while on medical leave, we picked a fight with Gannett CEO Mike Reed. And we enlisted our readers to help. Today, we have some good news to share. But the fight continues. www.arizonaagenda.com/p/justice-fo...

NEW: What would your university do if ICE agents showed up? In Arizona, the answer isn’t always clear. Experts say schools should have explicit protocols, but @azcir.org's @molboha.bsky.social found some of the state’s largest universities don’t. azcir.org/news/2025/09...

This means the disparate treatment of the affected voters based on where in the state they live will continue, even after Attorney General Kris Mayes issued an opinion in August aimed at resolving those disparities and creating a uniform policy statewide.

NEW: Arizona counties defy attorney general opinion on voters caught in proof-of-citizenship error Thousands could see their rights curtailed as Maricopa and Pinal counties choose to continue enforcing their restrictions. Full story: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

Petersen, Montenegro insist they're legally right and @azsecretary.bsky.social Fontes is wrong about what rules can go into latest version of Elections Procedures Manual. And they says litigation is next if he doesn't see it their way. tucson.com/news/state-r...

Ahead of the midterms, I've been closely watching the conversations around elections in Cochise County, the southern Arizona county that in 2022 attracted national media attention for challenging the election results. You might want to know what they have planned...

How California bluffed its way into a redistricting war with Trump, great work from @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Breaking: Arizona's U.S. senators just sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asking what kind of election cybersecurity support it’s offering state and local governments, in light of a hacker breaking into the Arizona Secretary of State’s election website...

Arizona AG response to Trump announcing he will attempt to ban mail voting and voting machines.

County recorders should not cancel a voter’s registration without affirmative evidence that the person is ineligible. www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

Some recorders had already started to limit the voting rights of these voters if they didn't provide proof of citizenship. A few had suspended their voter registration. It's unclear whether they will now follow Mayes' opinion and restore the voters' full eligibility.

JUST IN: Attorney General issues opinion on how AZ should treat 200K voters caught up in state error tracking voter citizenship. They should remain FULLY ELIGIBLE to vote, Mayes writes, because recorders don't have authority to remove them from rolls/make federal-only. STORY IN🧵

“In Election Cases, Supreme Court Keeps Removing Guardrails” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/u...

County recorders are concerned that the rollout of the new system has been rushed story via @jenafifield.bsky.social/@votebeat.org

Local newspapers are the last bastion of defense to find our what your city councils have been up to. Please support them, whether with a print subscription or at least a digital one. You don't know what you'll be missing until it's gone.

I got a copy of the email Fontes sent to staff Monday about the layoffs. Read it in my newsletter coming out in a bit. If you're not signed up, it's free and includes a round-up of election news from around the state: www.votebeat.org/arizona/subs...

New: Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is eliminating several top positions in his office, citing budget constraints. www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

New: Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo sends letter to Attorney General Kris Mayes asking her to investigate Recorder Justin Heap for breaking open meeting law and for public corruption, after we reported Heap's text messages. Full letter 🔗 and background in 🧵.

@azagmayes.bsky.social tells judge there's nothing illegal about a unanimously approved 2005 law that says not just Arizonans who live overseas can vote here but so can their children even if they never lived here. tucson.com/news/state-r...

To give more context: San Tan Valley has about 100,000 residents now. That's about as many as Boulder, Colorado, and Green Bay, Wisconsin.