SCOTUS allows error-prone database for voter verification. RNC shifts poll watching focus to voting machines. Mail ballot requests drop.
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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.
“This is clearly a bad-faith attempt to set up a contest to election results that Republicans do not like.” — Sara Tindall-Ghazal, Georgia’s State Election Board’s sole Democrat, regarding Republican members appeal to the Trump administration to examine Georgia’s voting machines.
ICE Shared Voter Data From Six States With Palantir for Use in Immigration Enforcement Surveillance Tool: ICE shared voter registration data from at least six states: Missouri, Michigan, New Mexico, Connecticut, Georgia, and Kentucky with Palantir. Palantir was preparing to enter voter data into ELITE, an expansive surveillance tool it built for ICE’s immigration enforcement operations. Internal documents also reveal ICE received 50.6 million voter records from the DOJ and another 48.4 million from “independent sources” obtained from by DHS election conspiracy theorist Heather Honey. Separately, HSI was exploring the use of undercover agents to infiltrate voter registration nonprofits in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and adopted a “network-based investigative approach” targeting organizations rather than individual voters. ICE Spotted Near Voting Sites Ahead of Midterms: ICE agents have been observed near voting locations ahead of the November midterms. The detention occurred at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria on the first day ballot drop boxes opened in California. ICE detained an individual in one parking lot while an adjoining lot in the same parking area served as an active ballot drop-off location. Voters had to pass through the area where agents were operating to reach the drop box. Democratic Leaders Warn Trump is Hiding Foreign Interference Intel to Justify Election Takeover: The top Democratic members of the House and Senate intelligence committees are warning Trump and his allies are amplifying false claims about foreign election interference, including from China, while holding less alarming classified intelligence from the public. Rep. Jim Himes and Sen. Mark Warner said they fear the administration plans to use the pretext of foreign interference to seize ballots in closely contested races or impound voting machines if Democrats win. Allot and Voter Information Errors Affect Hundreds of Thousands of Voters: A series of election administration errors affected voters across multiple states this week. In Colorado, roughly 800,000 voters received ballots incorrectly including a sales tax measure they were not eligible to vote on due to a rail district boundary miscommunication. In California’s Calaveras County, voter information pamphlets were mailed with candidate statements from the June primary instead of the November election. In Arizona’s Maricopa County, about 3,000 ballots were mailed to voters six days early due to a vendor error – the ballots are valid but drew a public rebuke from Trump, who said the county should “be ashamed of themselves.”Subscribe for free to stay sharp, fight back, and never miss a beat in the battle for democracy.
Georgia’s State Election Board Asks DOJ to Investigate Voting Machines and Ban QR Code Ballot Counting: The Georgia State Election Board’s executive director sent letters to AG Todd Blance and other top federal officials asking the DOJ to investigate the state’s voting machines and give Georgia a six-month deadline to eliminate QR code ballot counting – a change that would require a complete overhaul of the state’s in-person voting system. The DOJ did not indicate whether it would act on the request. North Carolina Send Citizenship Confirmation Letters to 1,600 Voters Flagged by Federal Database: The North Carolina State Board of Elections will send letters to nearly 1,600 registered voters flagged by the federal SAVE database as potential noncitizens, asking them to confirm their citizenship or request removal from voter rolls. The board had flagged the voters in July but held off acting until SCOTUS authorized the use of SAVE for voter roll checks last week. Ohio Mail Ballot Request Plummet as Midterms Approach: In Ohio, requests have dropped 26% compared to the point in the 2022 midterms, with declines roughly equal in both Republican and Democratic-leaning counties. Aaron Ockerman, director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, raised the concern that a drop in mail ballots could lead to longer in-person lines – a major problem for Ohio elections in the 2000s – although he said it’s hard to say right now. Wisconsin Election Clerks Still Using Personal Emails Accounts for Election Business: A Votebeat analysis found that about one in three Wisconsin clerks – predominately in small municipalities – still use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or other consumer email accounts for election business, creating cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Experts warn consumer accounts are easier to spoof and more susceptible to phishing attacks than government domain accounts, and that the gap in modernization between large and small jurisdictions remains a significant and largely unaddressed election security risk.
Tina Peters Pitches Trump on Using Commerce Secretary to Seize Voting Machines Before Midterms: Convicted election denier Tina Peters met with Trump Monday to pitch a plan to use a 2019 executive order, which declared a national emergency on critical infrastructure with Chinese components, to empower Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to mandate a federal investigation of state voting machines and potential order their replacement before the midterms. Emails obtained by American Oversight show White House chief of staff Susie Wiles connected election denial activists with Trump administration officials to help facilitate the effort, which dates back to at least August 2025. Conservative Groups Push DOJ to Deploy Federal Election Monitors to Minnesota Polling Places: Conservative voting groups held a “Protect the Polls” event in Minnesota’s Sherburne County on October 6 to pressure the DOJ to deploy federal election monitors to St. Cloud area polling locations and urge local county officials to accept their presence. The event is connected to Restore Minnesota, a right-wing organization, and is part of a broader national push by conservative groups to place federal monitors at polling places.
Paid for by Fair Fight Action.
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