Welcome to Fair Elections Alert, your rundown of key attacks against voting rights and independent elections across the country over the past week. It’s a way to keep up with what the opponents of democracy are focused on. We’ll highlight critical updates you need to be aware of, with a spotlight on the South, the original frontline in the fight for voting rights.
“They don’t work with us, they work against us…Why should I trust them?” – Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes declaring no confidence in CISA's leadership.
Trump Amplifies Dubious Census Report Claiming 24,000 Noncitizens Voted in 2020: Trump cited an unauthored Census Bureau report to claim more than 24,000 noncitizens voted illegally in the 2020 presidential election, a figure data and election experts say is based on questionable methodology. Even if accurate, the votes would represent less than 0.02% of the roughly 160 million ballots cast. The report has ties to a Trump-aligned think tank, America First Policy Institute, and draws on commercial voter data from a firm that received a federal contract in 2024.
State Election Officials Confront CISA Over Lack of Support With Midterms 90 Days Away: Tensions boiled over during a CISA election security call Monday when Arizona SOS Adrian Fontes publicly declared he had no confidence in the agency’s leadership, telling CISA officials directly, “I don’t trust you. Your boss came out there and said: We are going to criminalize the work you do. Why should we trust you?’” Participants described the briefing as a generic “cover your a**” session that offered no concrete support for the 2026 midterms, with CISA leadership appearing more focused on the 2028 presidential election.
Attorney General Vows to Take Voter Roll Fight to Supreme Court Despite Sting of Losses: AG Todd Blanche said on Meet the Press that taking the Trump administration voter roll fight to the Supreme Court is a “possibility” and that the DOJ will not stop pursuing access to state voter rolls despite losing nearly two dozen cases in lower federal courts. Blanche cited a federal statue that he believes gives the DOJ authority to review state voter rolls under the right circumstances.
DOJ to Deploy 1,000 Election Monitors to Polling Locations for Midterms: Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon announced the DOJ will send 1,000 election monitors to polling locations for the November midterms. The department has not released its final list of jurisdictions but says it is considering locations with potential language or disability-access issues as well as places where it believes voter fraud may occur.
Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Sweeping GOP Election Ballot Measure: The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Prop. 144, a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would require government-issued photo ID for all voters, ban foreign national spending in state elections, and mandate on-site ballot tabulation at polling locations, can remain on the November ballot. The measure was written by Alex Kolodin, the Republican nominee for secretary of state who was sanctioned by the Arizona State Bar in 2023 for filing evidence-free lawsuits challenging the 2020 election.
California Shasta County Elections Officials Considering Hiring Convicted Election Denier Tina Peters: Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis is considering hiring convicted election denier Tina Peters as assistant registrar, as two labor unions representing elections office employees have voted no confidence in Curtis’ leadership and called for his resignation. Curtis has also claimed, without evidence, that ballots from June’s election didn’t “look or feel right” and “didn’t smell right, either.” Thus, locking them in an upstairs room for a potential FBI inspection, though the FBI has not confirmed visiting the office or inspecting any ballots.
Kentucky Voter Precinct Misassignment Problems Likely Statewide: State lawmakers questioned Jefferson County Clerk David Yates about how hundreds of Louisville voters were assigned to the wrong precincts, and in some cases the wrong county for years. Yates attributed the problem to a conflict between a statewide precinct map published by the Kentucky Board of Elections and data held by local officials. A fellow county clerk warned lawmakers that the issues are likely not limited to Jefferson County, and lawmakers said resolving the problem statewide will be a priority in January.
Michigan Recall Effort Against Antrim County Clerk Fails For Second Time: The Michigan State Board of Canvassers again rejected a recall petition against Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop, who is under investigation for allegedly altering voter registrations outside of her statutory authority. The petition failed because it did not receive approval from at least one member of each party on the board, with Republican members citing insufficiently specific language in the recall petition.
Missouri Court Blocks Two Voter Petitions From November Ballot: A Missouri circuit court judge upheld SOS Denny Hoskins’ decision to block two voter petitions from the November ballot, ruling that current voters cannot use ballot initiatives to permanently insulate policy preferences from future reconsideration. The case is now headed directly to the Missouri Supreme Court after the state’s high court bypassed the appeals court to take it up directly.
North Carolina Republicans Accused of Targeting Black Voters Through Sunday Early Voting Cuts: The North Carolina State Board of Elections held a daylong meeting to resolve 20 disputed county early voting plans, with Democrats accusing Republicans of deliberately eliminating Sunday voting hours that are preferred by Black voters. The accusations carry historical weight as Republicans state legislators admitted in a 2013 court filings that they targeted Sunday voting specifically because it was disproportionately used by Black voters. An Anson County Republican invoked religious objections to Sunday voting, comparing it unfavorably to Chick-fil-A’s closure policy. The board voted along party lines to reject most Sunday early voting hours.
RNC Appeals to Nebraska Supreme Court Over Overseas Voter Law: The RNC appealed a district court ruling to the Nebraska Supreme Court that upheld a state law allowing certain overseas “never-resident” voters to cast ballots. The lower court found at least one constitutional application for the law so it couldn’t be challenged as unconstitutional on its face. With ballots set to be sent out next month, the clock is ticking for a ruling before the election.
Mike Lindell Demands Recount After Losing Minnesota GOP Primary by 11 Points: MyPillow founder Mike Lindell says he is willing to pay for a full recount in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary, which he lost by 11 percentage points, claiming his team found unspecified “irregularities” in the election data linked to electronic voting machines. The Minnesota SOS’ office estimated the cost at $825,000. It remains unclear whether Lindell will follow through.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.