Arizona: Fox News report feeds false claim about 50,000 noncitizens on voter rolls | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

Arizona has not identified up to 50,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls, nor have counties begun canceling any voter registrations, despite news reports over the weekend suggesting otherwise. The misleading claims showed up in reports by Fox News and other outlets that mischaracterized a recent legal settlement between Arizona counties and the grassroots organization Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as EZAZ.org. Sunday’s Fox News story carried the headline “Arizona to begin removing as many as 50K noncitizens from voter rolls following lawsuit.” It said that the settlement led to all counties beginning “the process of verifying and removing noncitizens from their voter rolls, including nearly 50,000 registrants who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship.” Read Article

National: How the Federal Government Is Undermining Election Security | Lawrence Norden and LaTasha Hill/Brennan Center for Justice

President Donald Trump’s March executive order on elections has made headlines and drawn legal challenges, including from the Brennan Center. But the order is only part of his administration’s harmful election-related actions, and most of them are flying under the radar. Since taking office, the president has made a concerted, far-reaching effort to dismantle much of the federal support, funding, and infrastructure that has been built over the last decade to help states protect our elections from attack. Just last week, the president ordered the Department of Justice to review the actions of Christopher Krebs, who Trump appointed to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) in 2018. Krebs successfully oversaw the agency’s work to secure the 2020 election, but the president’s new memorandum now accuses him of misconduct for denying the false claims that the election was rigged. This targeting of an individual for criminal investigation sets a dangerous precedent for government officials who seek to do their jobs free from partisan considerations and who may need to push back against false election denial claims in the future. Read Article

Iowa Official Examines Pause to Federal Election Cyber Funds  Maya Marchel Hoff/Quad City Times

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate expressed concern about the Trump administration’s pause on federal election cybersecurity programs during a Friday appearance on Iowa Press. In an interview for the Iowa PBS show Friday, Pate told reporters that he would “not want to see” the cybersecurity systems go away. “If those (systems) were to go away, it would be pretty serious, and we’ve had conversations with them on that regard,” Pate said. “Feedback I’m getting is that we will see continuing some type of security support. They’re reformatting it, and of course, I’m waiting anxiously to find out what that looks like. But we do count on a lot of those cyber protections.” Read Article