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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A Postal Service spokesperson declined to comment on the agency’s internal deliberations about the EO and said it was the Board of Governors’ policy not to discuss them. He referred ProPublica to an earlier statement by Postmaster General David Steiner: about.usps.com/newsroom/sta...

USPS Statement on Development of U.S. Federal Ballot Mail Portal

We have received Senator Blumenthal’s letter and are carefully reviewing the concerns he and the whistleblower have raised. We appreciate the opportunity to address these questions and share additional information about the Postal Service’s work to support election officials and voters across the country.

The United States Postal Service has spent months developing a U.S. Federal Ballot Mail Portal to provide election officials with a simple, secure, and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states. This work has at all times been conducted in a manner consistent with court orders. Importantly, in an order issued by the U.S. District Court this week, the court expressly confirmed that the Postal Service may continue its work to establish the portal and communicate with states regarding design standards on a voluntary basis. Consistent with the temporary restraining order, verification procedures prior to acceptance are not being performed.

The Postal Service is now finalizing the portal and will soon make it available to election officials who voluntarily wish to familiarize themselves with the platform. USPS will also provide tools, presentations, and other resources to help election officials understand the platform and make informed decisions about whether and how they wish to use it.

The portal is just one part of a broader, year-round effort by the Postal Service to ensure that election mail and ballots are handled and delivered securely, reliably, and efficiently. USPS regularly works with election officials, mail service providers, and the broader mailing community to provide guidance on election-mail procedures, operational standards, and best practices.

Regardless of political party or perspective, we share a common goal: ensuring that Americans can have confidence that their election mail will be handled securely and delivered reliably…

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

5/ The Trump administration "has hidden the high likelihood that the new ballot mail verification processes will result in major disruptions in mail ballots ever getting delivered to voters," according to the disclosure.

Screenshot reads: "The Whistleblower also raises grave concerns that the administration has hidden the high likelihood that the new ballot mail verification processes will result in major disruptions in mail ballots ever getting delivered to voters. As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected..."

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

1/ Just in: An anonymous federal worker has filed a whistleblower disclosure warning that the U.S. Postal Service's attempt to create a system to regulate mail voting for the midterms has been "rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed." @propublica.org has the details 👇

Screenshot of the top of a whistleblower disclosure titled "USPS Rushed Implementation of New and Untested IT Systems Threatens U.S. Ballot Mail Delivery." Addressed to Senator Blumenthal, the first point details how the whistleblower has "significant concerns about the USPS's secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process for the creation and implementation of an entirely new and untested set of IT systems" intended for the 2026 midterms.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

We are still learning about new states in which Homeland Security agents are pursuing noncitizen voter leads. In Arizona, @propublica.org obtained five subpoenas sent to the secretary of state's office requesting records about alleged noncitizen voters. Link to full docs in 🧵

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The administration also ignored concerns of career DOJ attorneys that transferring state voter data — which the DOJ had collected — to HSI could violate privacy laws. Limits proposed by the DOJ's privacy chief were quickly abandoned.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

A White House official told ProPublica that the president "reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America's elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted."

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

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 🧵

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

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...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

USCIS, which oversees SAVE, did not immediately return a request for comment. DHS general counsel James Percival said in a X post that the ruling would prevent DHS from "addressing alien voting." It's unclear whether the administration will appeal.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Sooknanan’s ruling said DHS violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by adding social security data to SAVE without formally notifying the public. The data-sharing also violated the Social Security Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, she said.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The move came after U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan blocked further use of the tool, Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, ruling that the system’s expansion violated data privacy laws and risked disenfranchising eligible voters. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

We also reveal a previously unreported moment from 2020 that protected the outcome of that election, in which career experts helped Attorney General William Barr realize both the truth of the election and that telling it to the president would almost certainly cost him his job.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

. @dougbockclark.bsky.social uncovered new details about their activities, including Trump appointee Kurt Olsen’s involvement in the January FBI raid for 2020 ballots in Georgia. (Olsen did not respond to a request for comment.)

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

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. 🧵

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

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...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

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 🧵

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

A DHS official I interviewed acknowledged that the new SAVE tool can’t always find up-to-date citizenship information, and said it’s on states to decide how to use SAVE results. He said it was rushed, but that didn’t mean it was “reckless.”

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Also in November, local election clerks in Texas began telling us that flagged voters they had sent letters to were able to prove their citizenship. We collected data and found that 85 flagged voters across 29 counties proved their citizenship. That includes Sofia Minotti:

Woman with glasses, long brown hair and black shirt looks out window.

Photo credit: Shelby Tauber for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

We started looking into this in Missouri in November after clerks were sent lists of voters flagged by SAVE. The clerks were concerned to see some people who they recognized as citizens on the lists. The state had told them to make the voters temporarily ineligible to vote.

Woman with colorful hair and a black blazer stands in front of a map.
Photo credit: Joe Johnson for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

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...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

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.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Votebeat reports exclusively today that 1,100+ AZ voters now have their registrations suspended entirely because Pinal County is taking a hard line on whether these longtime residents now need to prove their citizenship. FULL STORY: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

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

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

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.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

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...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

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🧵

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

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 🧵.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

One of the fastest-growing communities in the U.S. might become a town today. San Tan Valley residents (see SE corner of map, in relation to Phoenix) are voting today on whether to incorporate.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

I’ll be on 3TV Politics Unplugged 5:30 pm Sunday trying to fit six months of Maricopa County election drama into six minutes. Thanks for having me on @morganloew.bsky.social

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

JUST IN: Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo calls for public corruption investigation into Recorder Justin Heap, after we published the recorder's texts this morning. Link 🔗 to full story in thread.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Tucson, if you got an incorrect ballot in the mail for the city council election, there's a # to call at the bottom. Recorder's Office and city tell me they will be putting out another news release today with more info, and I've asked lots of ?s, waiting on answers... more TK

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

A hacker gained access to the Arizona Secretary of State’s candidate portal and changed all candidate photos on the election results pages from 2016 to 2024 to this photo of an Iranian Ayatollah, according to the office. Full story in quoted tweet.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

New: A hacker gained access to the web portal Arizona candidates use to upload info about themselves and changed candidate headshots that were live on the election results website, three weeks before the special congressional primary election, @votebeat.org has learned. Story in 🧵

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Ahead of the midterms, the Republican Party is targeting the voting rights of US citizens who have never lived in the country. Who are these voters, and where might these challenges go? FULL STORY: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Breaking: Cochise County is asking its insurer to cover $300K in legal bills for the indicted supervisor who faces two felonies after voting to delay the certification of the '22 midterm election results. Full story in next post in 🧵.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Eek. Checking email after being off for a week, and I've heard from so many confused voters who got an incorrect letter telling them they moved out of state. They WILL need to take action to keep voting a full ballot ... but how many will? Background: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

New statement from Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap confirms that his office approved the incorrect proof before the vendor sent the incorrect letter to 83,000 voters. Background: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Maricopa County Recorder’s Office puts out statement about mailing 83K incorrect letters. In this statement they don’t actually explain they sent an incorrect letter, don’t confirm # of voters who got it, and fully blame their print vendor. It doesn’t even say the word “letter.”

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Maricopa County voters 🚨 Please share this widely. If you get one of these letters in the mail telling you you’re going to be moved off the active voter rolls, know that it’s a mistake. Read my full story in 🧵 , and email me your thoughts: jfifield@votebeat.org.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

ARIZONA - Just in: Voting rights groups, GOP and SOS have reached a settlement regarding the '21 law AZ enacted to get rid of its Permanent Early Voting List. (If a voter doesn't vote with early ballot for 4 years, they will be kicked off list, starting in '27) 🧵Conditional settlement...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

America First Legal lawyer James Rogers issues a statement responding to Maricopa County Rachel Mitchell's letter, saying Recorder Justin Heap "is free to choose his own counsel when engaged in litigation against the Board of Supervisors," citing case law.

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

BREAKING: Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell sends cease/desist letter to America First Legal lawyer telling him to withdraw the lawsuit he filed on behalf of Recorder Justin Heap against supervisors for more power over county elections. UPDATED, 🔗 to letter: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

JUST IN: In Maricopa County, Recorder Justin Heap sues the supervisors claiming they "engaged in an unlawful attempt to seize near-total control" of elections. The supervisors have consistently said that they have negotiated in good faith. Lawsuit 🔗 here: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

About 80,000 longtime Maricopa County, Arizona residents are about to get letters in the mail asking them to prove their U.S. citizenship to keep voting a full ballot. Why? Full story: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025... TikTok: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjspBkHv/

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

NEW IN ARIZONA: Former AZ state Rep. Austin Smith, a leader of advocacy group Turning Point Action, was indicted on charges that he forged voter signatures on the nomination petitions he submitted for his re-election campaign last year. LINK TO FULL STORY/INDICTMENT: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

New: An Arizona grand jury has indicted Austin Smith, former state lawmaker and Turning Point leader, charging him with multiple felonies and misdemeanors related to fraudulent nomination petition signatures. Copy of indictment: mcusercontent.com/cc1fad182b6d...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

New: Maricopa County is sending letters to longtime voters caught up in a state error who will now need to prove their citizenship. It's caused confusion in other counties. Maricopa is sending by far the most of these letters. What to do if you get one: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2025...

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

NEW: DOJ has sent letters to Arizona and Wisconsin election officials claiming that they are violating federal election law, and threatening action. Letters🖇️ in full, HERE: www.votebeat.org/wisconsin/20... w/ @AlexanderShur

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Jen Fifield @jenafifield.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

"The disenfranchising effect ... has already been seen in Arizona, where voters on Tribal lands have been among those most impacted by the state’s similar enacted proof of citizenship law" - Letter from 14 U.S. senators to Sec. Burgum Background: www.votebeat.org/arizona/2024...

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