1/ Wondering what the FBI has been doing with 2020 election materials it seized in a raid earlier this year, and how it figures into Trump’s plans for the midterm elections? Well, @ProPublica has been working to find out. 🧵👇
Jen Fifield
@jenafifield.bsky.social
ProPublica reporter covering voting, elections and democracy. Phoenix native. Mom of two. Send tips: In chat or on Signal: jenafifield.01
Idaho Attorney General's office (Republican) responds to the DOJ letter that went out to all 50 states threatening to prosecute state and local election officials who don't clean voter rolls: "Stop threatening your friends" scoop via @audreydutton.bsky.social @propublica.org.
Audrey Dutton@audreydutton.bsky.social · 3w ago"You conclude your July 7th letter by asking 'how the Department can assist' in Secretary McGrane's efforts to comply with federal law. We have several suggestions. First, you can stop threatening your friends in Idaho," the letter says.
NEW from @propublica: Trump pushes out remaining members of bipartisan election commission ahead of midterms www.propublica.org/article/fede...
Trump Pushes Out Remaining Members of Bipartisan Election Commission Ahead of Midterms
President Donald Trump has fired Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, the Democrats on the federal Election Assistance Commission, while Christy McCormick, the Republican, was allowed to resign, sources...
propublica.org
NEW: The remaining three members of the Election Assistance Commission have been pushed out, ProPublica has exclusively learned from sources familiar with the matter. The three members were Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, Democrats, and Christy McCormick, a Republican.
The Department of Justice just sent ProPublica this response: "The Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections.”
Jen Fifield@jenafifield.bsky.social · 4w agoNEW The Justice Department is threatening to prosecute election officials across the country for failing to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls, an escalation of the Trump administration's attempts to prosecute election fraud, according to letters I obtained with Andy Mannix @propublica.org 🧵
NEW The Justice Department is threatening to prosecute election officials across the country for failing to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls, an escalation of the Trump administration's attempts to prosecute election fraud, according to letters I obtained with Andy Mannix @propublica.org 🧵
New: DHS had promised four states the ability to use SAVE tool to check their voter rolls for noncitizens, in a settlement. Now that new SAVE functions are shut down, those states say DHS is violating the settlement. Judge asked DHS to respond by tomorrow. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Jen Fifield@jenafifield.bsky.social · last mo.NEW: The Trump administration has shut down a controversial Homeland Security tool it had touted as a way to find noncitizens who’d illegally registered to vote, @propublica.org has learned. 🧵
NEW: The Trump administration has shut down a controversial Homeland Security tool it had touted as a way to find noncitizens who’d illegally registered to vote, @propublica.org has learned. 🧵
Exclusive: A Kansas woman was detained at the airport by Customs for voting as a noncitizen, marking an escalation of Trump’s attempts to find election fraud. CBP typically plays no part in these investigations. 🧵https://www.propublica.org/article/noncitizen-voter-detained-airport-customs
A Noncitizen Says She Was Told She Could Vote. Then Customs Detained Her at the Airport and Threatened to Deport Her.
The case, which hasn’t previously been reported, marks a new escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to find and prosecute instances of noncitizen voting, despite evidence that it is rare.
propublica.org
Love the interviews with election clerks in this @elizlanders.bsky.social report. Thanks for including me and featuring our work @propublica.org. "Officials sound alarm over political interference in midterms" Full report: www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Election officials sound alarm over political interference in midterms
After Democrats won an election in Virginia to redraw congressional maps in their favor, President Trump called it, without evidence, a “rigged election” and “travesty of justice.” It’s the latest exa...
pbs.org
Exclusive new details about Trump's effort to 'take over' the midterm elections, in a monthslong investigation from @dougbockclark.bsky.social & me: www.propublica.org/article/trum...
Inside Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections
When Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election, the institutional guardrails of American democracy held. But if faced with the same tests today, those barriers — and people who held the line — would l...
propublica.org
NEW: In 2020, as President Trump tried to overturn his loss to Joe Biden, the institutional guardrails of American democracy held — barely. A @propublica.org investigation found that, ahead of the midterms, Trump has systematically demolished those guardrails. 🧵
UPDATE: A coalition of minority- and voting-rights organizations have sued the Texas secretary of state to try to halt the use of the federal SAVE tool to identify noncitizens on voter rolls, citing @propublica.org reporting on the tool’s inaccuracies. www.propublica.org/article/save...
“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
propublica.org
UPDATE: The Arizona Senate has released the federal grand jury subpoena for the records related to the partisan audit of Maricopa County's 2020 election. Link to full record: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
Jen Fifield@jenafifield.bsky.social · 5mo agoOn Saturday morning, an agent took more than three dozen hard drives and servers containing data from a partisan audit of the 2020 vote in Maricopa County, according to the receipt (link in update in top of story) www.propublica.org/article/mari...
ProPublica has exclusively obtained the FBI property receipt detailing what an agent collected from the Arizona Senate under the federal grand jury subpoena we wrote about yesterday. @propublica.org 🧵
NEW: Election Records Handed Over to the FBI in Maricopa County, Arizona, Could Be Fatally Flawed, Experts Say @jenafifield.bsky.social
Election Records Handed Over to the FBI in Maricopa County, Arizona, Could Be Fatally Flawed, Experts Say
Unlike in Fulton County, Georgia, where actual ballots were seized, a federal grand jury subpoenaed digital data related to a partisan audit of the county’s vote.
propublica.org
NEW: A federal tool meant to find noncitizens on voter rolls is consistently marking citizens as noncitizens, especially if they were born outside the U.S., causing chaos as election clerks try not to disenfranchise voters, @zachdespart.bsky.social and I found. 🧵 www.propublica.org/article/save...
“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
propublica.org
“The idea that federal officials would seize ballots in an attempt to prove fraud is especially dangerous in this context when we know … the Georgia 2020 election has been extensively counted, recounted and investigated,” one expert said. By @dougbockclark.bsky.social @jenafifield.bsky.social
FBI’s Search of Georgia Election Center Is “Dangerous,” Experts Warn
The search warrant, which sought 2020 election ballots, tabulator tapes, digital data and voter rolls from Fulton County, marked what experts described as a significant escalation in President Donald ...
propublica.org
"Election officials say trust with CISA is broken — and may not come back," via @jessicahuseman.bsky.social www.votebeat.org/2026/01/15/c...
Election officials say trust with CISA is broken — maybe permanently
States once relied on CISA for election security. Now officials say politicization and retreating support have shattered that trust.
votebeat.org
The fight over changing "No Labels Party" to "Arizona Independent Party" is important to pay attention to especially for Congressional races. If you're new to AZ, registering to vote and see "Arizona Independent Party" you might think it means you'll be unaffiliated but really...
If you donate $40 to @propublica.org for Giving Tuesday, you can get this awesome Tips Tote: ‘Someone reading this tote has the next big story. Is it you?’ give.propublica.org/campaign/749...
ICYMI: The letter 10 secretaries of state sent yesterday to DOJ & DHS asking if they really ran states' voter rolls through SAVE (the newly expanded system that checks citizenship). The election officials have legal and privacy concerns and want to know why they were misled.
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...
Thousands of ballots rejected due to new birth year law • Daily Montanan
Larger counties saw higher rejection rates; secretary of state declared election overall successful
dailymontanan.com
"DOJ asked for 2020 election records. Fulton County responded: By ignoring it." via @calebgroves.bsky.social www.ajc.com/politics/202...
DOJ asked for 2020 election records. Fulton County responded: By ignoring it.
Fulton County faces pressure to hand over documents from the 2020 election, but the county isn't budging.
ajc.com
"Trump's Pardon of Giuliani: How Presidential Clemency Powers Work," via @gregorykorte.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump’s Pardon of Giuliani: How Presidential Clemency Powers Work
The US president’s power to pardon is both one of the most absolute and misunderstood provisions of the Constitution. Rooted in the “prerogative of mercy” of English kings dating back to the seventh c...
bloomberg.com
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.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
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.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
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:
ProPublica@propublica.org · 9mo agoNEW: DHS used to only have information on immigrants who’d had contact with the agency. Under a new data-sharing agreement, the system added information — including full Social Security numbers — on millions of Americans not in DHS databases.
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
ProPublica@propublica.org · 9mo agoLegal experts called DHS’ move to use driver’s license data for citizenship checks more evidence of federal overreach. “The administration wants to get as much data as it can, however it can, whenever it can.” With @texastribune.org