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Election Integrity
44 stories on Election Integrity. For each one: what the left says, what the right says, and what both agree on. RSS feed
- Did Peltola's Campaign Rig Alaska Ballot With a 'Decoy Dan'?
Oct 30, 2026
Left: Peltola has directly and repeatedly denied any personal knowledge of or involvement in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan, stating she only ever knew about herself and the incumbent as candidates.
Right: A former Peltola campaign manager provided interviews, text messages, and documents indicating senior campaign aides and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff worked for over a year to find and recruit a same-named spoiler candidate.
- Did Peltola's Campaign Rig Alaska's Senate Ballot With a Fake Sullivan?
Oct 29, 2026
Left: The Trump DOJ lawsuit seeking to delay certification of a legitimate election result represents a far graver threat to democracy than a campaign recruiting an extra candidate, since federal intervention to potentially overturn voters' choices is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent for contesting future races Republicans lose.
Right: A detailed New York Times investigation drawing on 12 sources, text messages, and internal documents substantiates what Alaska Republicans have alleged for months: that Democratic operatives deliberately engineered voter confusion to help Peltola win a seat she could not otherwise capture.
- NYT: Peltola Campaign Secretly Recruited Spoiler Named 'Dan Sullivan'
Oct 29, 2026
Left: The Peltola campaign and DSCC have categorically denied recruiting either Sullivan or coordinating the alleged scheme, and no court filing has established their direct involvement.
Right: A detailed New York Times investigation, based on 12 sources, text messages, and internal documents, describes a coordinated 'ballot composition project' involving Peltola's lawyers, campaign aides, and DSCC staff to recruit namesake and spoiler candidates.
- DOJ demands WA set aside 400 ballots days before midterms
Oct 29, 2026
Left: The timing one week before a competitive midterm election raises concern that the request is designed to sow doubt about results rather than resolve a genuine administrative issue.
Right: Federal prosecutors say the 405 identified voters have cast roughly 1,500 ballots over time, some in elections as recent as this year's August primary, indicating a real pattern rather than isolated incidents.
- Hackers Knock FEC Filing System Offline Days Before Midterms
Oct 29, 2026
Left: The timing raises alarm about the vulnerability of election-adjacent infrastructure during a highly charged midterm cycle, even though the FEC does not administer voting itself.
Right: It is reassuring that officials are clear the breach attempt does not affect voters' ability to cast ballots, since the FEC plays no role in administering elections.
- Spencer Pratt's 40,000-Vote Lead Vanishes as Raman Surges Past
Jun 9, 2026
Left: California's mail-in ballot system is functioning as designed, with late-arriving ballots typically favoring Democratic candidates as more Democratic voters tend to return ballots closer to election deadlines
Right: Raman's dramatic surge from a 40,000-vote deficit to victory through late ballot drops appears statistically improbable and raises legitimate questions about California's election integrity
- SCOTUS Lets Trump Use Social Security Data to Purge Voters
Sep 26, 2026
Left: The SAVE database has a documented history of falsely flagging naturalized and native-born citizens as noncitizens, meaning eligible voters could be wrongly purged or forced to prove their citizenship weeks before an election.
Right: Federal law obligates DHS to respond to state and local requests verifying voter citizenship, and the ruling simply lets the government use the tool it considers best suited for that legitimate purpose.
- SCOTUS Lets Trump Use Social Security Data to Vet Voters
Sep 25, 2026
Left: The SAVE database has a documented history of false positives, meaning eligible citizens risk being wrongly flagged as noncitizens and purged from voter rolls.
Right: Federal law under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act obligates DHS to share citizenship verification information with state and local election officials upon request.
- Democratic Governor Frees Trump Ally After Presidential Pressure Campaign
May 16, 2026
Left: Polis capitulated to Trump's threats and pressure campaign, undermining the rule of law and sending a dangerous message that political intimidation works
Right: Peters was given an unusually harsh nine-year sentence for nonviolent, first-time offenses that amounted to questioning election integrity
- Brazilian Court Justice, Lula's Ex-Lawyer, Extended Voting at His Request
Oct 27, 2026
Left: Lula's win reflects a legitimate democratic comeback after trailing in the first round, the first such reversal in decades, demonstrating the resilience of Brazilian voters' preferences.
Right: A sitting Supreme Court justice who personally served as Lula's defense lawyer in his corruption case unilaterally extended voting nationwide at the request of his former client's campaign, a conflict of interest that undermines judicial impartiality.
- Networks Split Over Airing Trump's Unproven Election Fraud Claims
Jul 17, 2026
Left: Networks that declined to air the speech live were exercising the same editorial judgment historically applied to Obama and Biden addresses, not singling out Trump.
Right: A sitting president's address to the nation on election integrity is a newsworthy event that deserves coverage regardless of the network's disagreement with its content.
- Karen Bass Touted Fake Poll Showing Her Beating Progressive Rival
Aug 19, 2026
Left: Bass and her campaign were themselves victims of a deliberate hoax designed to infiltrate the political information ecosystem, and sharing a poll that appeared to come from a functioning firm with a stated methodology is an understandable mistake in a media environment flooded with survey data.
Right: Bass eagerly promoted a poll flattering to her own campaign without doing any due diligence on the obscure organization behind it, exposing a willingness to amplify convenient numbers rather than verified ones.
- FBI No. 2 Bailey Resigns, Insider Says He 'Did Nothing'
Sep 29, 2026
Left: Bailey's exit adds to a pattern of high-level departures under Patel, raising questions about instability and turnover at the top of the bureau.
Right: Bailey is leaving on good terms, with both he and Patel publicly praising each other's service and emphasizing accomplishments like historic crime reduction under Trump's leadership.
- Trump Demands Thune Cancel Recess; GOP Leader Says No Path Exists
Jul 28, 2026
Left: The SAVE America Act's proof-of-citizenship voting requirements risk disenfranchising eligible voters who lack easy access to citizenship documents, particularly married women who changed their names, the elderly, and low-income Americans.
Right: Election integrity is a top priority for voters heading into the midterms, and safeguarding the vote against noncitizen participation is worth the Senate sacrificing its summer break to address.
- Two Dan Sullivans on Ballot: Dirty Trick or Legit Candidacy?
Aug 19, 2026
Left: Alaska's supreme court reviewed the eligibility question and ruled the second Dan Sullivan qualified to appear on the ballot, suggesting the legal process worked as designed.
Right: Senator Dan Sullivan and his allies argue the second candidate's identical name is a deliberate tactic designed to siphon votes and confuse the electorate, not a coincidence.
- Whistleblower: Trump-Ordered USPS Ballot System Could Reject Thousands
Sep 2, 2026
Left: A rushed three-month build of a system that normally takes nine months to a year invites exactly the kind of technical failures now being reported, including a 'zero-percent failure rate' standard that could reject entire batches of ballots over a single bad barcode.
Right: The executive order stems from a legitimate goal of verifying that only eligible U.S. citizens cast ballots, addressing long-standing concerns about the integrity of mail-in voting systems.
- Trump Asks Supreme Court to Let Feds Police Mail Voting
Jul 28, 2026
Left: The Constitution assigns authority over election administration to states and Congress, not the president, making this executive order an overreach of executive power.
Right: Verifying voter rolls before mailing ballots is a commonsense safeguard for election integrity, not a partisan attack on voting rights.
- Trump's 2020 Election Speech: Republicans Silent, Democrats Alarmed
Jul 19, 2026
Left: The speech rehashed debunked 2020 election fraud claims rather than addressing pressing concerns like inflation and the war in the Middle East.
Right: Republican leadership's silence reflects a strategic desire to keep midterm messaging focused on the economy and cost of living rather than litigating the past.
- Trump Alleges China Election Meddling; Critics Call Speech Baseless
Jul 17, 2026
Left: The speech relied on declassified documents that experts say do not support Trump's claims, with some intelligence assessments directly contradicting his allegations against China.
Right: Trump frames the speech as a necessary response to genuine and persistent vulnerabilities in election infrastructure that deserve public scrutiny regardless of who benefits politically.
- Trump Offers $1M for Voter Fraud Tips, Funding Unclear
Oct 27, 2026
Left: There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, despite Trump's years of unfounded claims that cost him the 2020 election he actually lost.
Right: The reward builds on the administration's broader anti-fraud efforts, including a recently launched $25 million whistleblower program rewarding tips on government fraud with a percentage of recovered funds.
- 6,600 Noncitizens Registered to Vote: 'Glitch' or Cover-Up?
Jul 24, 2026
Left: Gov. Sherrill's administration self-identified and disclosed the software error rather than waiting to be caught, and moved quickly to fix it and drop the vendor, IDEMIA.
Right: A voter roll error of this size going undetected for two years, despite the individuals explicitly identifying as noncitizens, points to a broader failure of election safeguards that Democrats have long downplayed.
- Trump Declassifies Claims of China Voter Hack, Mass Noncitizen Voting
Jul 17, 2026
Left: The DHS figures rely on matching Social Security numbers, which are legally held by lawful permanent residents, work-visa holders, and other authorized noncitizens, meaning the 'preliminary' 256,000 figure likely vastly overstates actual illegal registrations.
Right: DHS identified over a quarter-million potential noncitizen registrations across California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania simply by comparing public voter rolls against federal immigration data, suggesting the true national scope could be far larger.
- Postal Worker Dumped 300 Ballots Over 'Laziness,' Not Politics
Sep 23, 2026
Left: The case involved no political motive, undercutting narratives that mail-in voting is especially vulnerable to partisan manipulation or fraud.
Right: This case demonstrates a real, concrete failure that disenfranchised hundreds of voters ahead of a primary election, regardless of the worker's stated motive.
- Election Denier Lindell Refuses to Concede His Own Primary Loss
Aug 13, 2026
Left: Lindell's refusal to concede despite a roughly 11-point, 45,000-vote loss reflects the same baseless election-fraud rhetoric he used after 2020, when courts repeatedly rejected his claims and a judge found he defamed Smartmatic with false statements.
Right: Lindell is not declaring the election stolen outright; he says he wants his team to verify vote totals and 'reconcile these numbers' before formally conceding, citing roughly 265,000 outstanding votes at the time.
- 6,600 Noncitizens Registered to Vote in NJ Software Glitch
Jul 25, 2026
Left: The error originated in a motor-vehicle registration system between June 2023 and June 2024, years before Gov. Sherrill took office, and she moved quickly to disclose it, order removals, and launch an investigation once discovered.
Right: Thousands of noncitizens being registered — and hundreds actually voting — represents a serious breach of a fundamental election safeguard, not a trivial clerical issue.
- NJ Software 'Glitch' Registered 6,600 Noncitizens; Hundreds Voted
Jul 24, 2026
Left: Gov. Sherrill inherited the flawed system from her predecessor and proactively disclosed the error, investigated it, and moved to replace the vendor, IDEMIA, rather than concealing the problem.
Right: Thousands of noncitizens being registered to vote, and hundreds actually casting ballots, demonstrates a real and serious vulnerability in the election system that contradicts years of assurances that noncitizen voting essentially never happens.
- Trump Claims 278,000 Noncitizen Voters; Democrats Call It a Lie
Jul 18, 2026
Left: Trump presented no concrete evidence that any of the alleged noncitizen registrations resulted in actual votes cast, let alone changed any election outcome.
Right: A Department of Homeland Security review comparing state voter rolls with public records identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens on voter registration lists.
- California's Slow Vote Counting Fuels Election Fraud Claims
Jun 6, 2026
Left: California's extended counting process reflects comprehensive election security measures that ensure every eligible vote is properly verified and counted
Right: California's month-long counting process creates unnecessary delays that fuel suspicion and undermine confidence in election integrity
- Democratic Governor Frees Trump Ally Convicted of Election Tampering
May 17, 2026
Left: The commutation legitimizes and emboldens the election denial movement, setting a dangerous precedent that undermines democracy
Right: The nine-year sentence was unusually harsh for a first-time, nonviolent offender compared to similar cases involving Democrats
- Trump Administration Targets College Voting Programs Ahead of Elections
Mar 22, 2026
Left: The Trump administration is targeting a nonpartisan research group that helps over 1,000 universities track and boost student voter participation, which increased from 39% in 2016 to 47% in 2024
Right: The SAVE America Act addresses critical election integrity by requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo ID for voting, measures supported by over 80% of Americans
- DOJ Sues to Block 20,000 CA Ballots as 'Likely Noncitizens'
Oct 26, 2026
Left: This lawsuit arrives just three weeks before Election Day, raising concerns it is designed to sow doubt and suppress turnout rather than genuinely protect election integrity.
Right: The Justice Department argues that allowing even suspected noncitizens to vote dilutes the lawful votes of American citizens and undermines trust in the electoral system.
- AG Todd Blanche Becomes De Facto Press Secretary, Breaking Norms
Sep 17, 2026
Left: An Attorney General holding regular White House press briefings blurs the traditional separation between the Justice Department and political communications, raising concerns about the DOJ's independence.
Right: Cabinet officials stepping in to brief the press reflects an administration willing to have its most knowledgeable officials directly engage with reporters rather than filtering everything through a single spokesperson.
- Trump Declassifies Docs Alleging China Hacked 220M Voter Files
Jul 18, 2026
Left: The intelligence assessment released by former DNI Avril Haines actually concluded China 'considered but did not deploy' influence efforts to change the 2020 outcome, which complicates Trump's framing of active Chinese election manipulation.
Right: A data breach of this scale — 220 million voter files including names, addresses, phone numbers, and party affiliation — represents a serious national security failure that deserves public attention regardless of political timing.
- California's Slow Vote Count Sparks Election Integrity Debate
Jun 8, 2026
Left: California's mail-in ballot system follows established legal procedures that allow voters up to seven days after Election Day to return ballots postmarked by the deadline
Right: California's voting system creates opportunities for manipulation by allowing ballots to arrive days after Election Day and extending counting for weeks
- Texas PAC's '$25 for a Zoom class' scheme: bribery or grassroots outreach?
Sep 17, 2026
Left: The $25 payment compensates participants for their time spent on relational organizing, a widely used tactic where voters reach out to friends and family, not for casting a particular ballot.
Right: The PAC's own organizing manager described the program as 'a roundabout way of paying people for their votes' and called it 'shady' and 'a little gray,' undercutting claims that it's simply grassroots outreach.
- Third Dan Sullivan Enters Alaska's Bizarre Three-Way Senate Namesake Race
Aug 24, 2026
Left: Alaska's ranked-choice, top-four primary system allows any registered candidate to appear on the ballot, and the courts affirmed Dan J. Sullivan's right to run despite challenges to his eligibility.
Right: Dan J. Sullivan switched his party registration to Republican only moments before filing to run, and requested a ballot listing that closely mirrors the incumbent's name, actions Republicans see as a deliberate attempt to confuse voters and siphon votes from Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
- Fake Pollster Fooled Karen Bass and the Political Media
Aug 19, 2026
Left: Bass and her campaign were victims of a deliberate deception, not a case of intentional misinformation on her part, and she reasonably shared a poll that appeared legitimate.
Right: This incident exposes how easily fake or biased data can manipulate the political narrative and how eagerly campaigns and media amplify numbers that flatter their preferred candidates without verification.
- GOP Fiscal Hawks Revolt Over $95B in Unfunded Spending
Jul 20, 2026
Left: Bundling voter ID, proof-of-citizenship, and mail-ballot restrictions into a budget reconciliation bill is seen as an attempt to circumvent normal legislative debate and the Senate filibuster on a substantive voting-rights matter.
Right: Fiscal conservatives are standing on principle by refusing to approve $95 billion in new spending without identifying corresponding cuts or offsets, especially as national debt balloons to $39.5 trillion.
- California Woman Paid Homeless People to Register to Vote
May 19, 2026
Left: The case represents an isolated incident by one individual rather than evidence of widespread systematic voter fraud
Right: This case exposes vulnerabilities in California's voter registration system that could enable broader election fraud
- Thune Refuses Trump's Demand for Talking Filibuster on SAVE Act
Mar 13, 2026
Left: Thune is making a reasonable calculation based on Senate math, recognizing that Republicans lack the votes to sustain a talking filibuster even if they could initiate one
Right: Thune is failing to use available parliamentary tools like the talking filibuster to advance overwhelmingly popular election integrity legislation that 80% of Americans support
- DOJ Gives California 48 Hours to Flag Noncitizen Voters
Oct 14, 2026
Left: The 48-hour deadline arrives three weeks before Election Day and after mail ballots already began going out, giving officials almost no time to verify citizenship status without risking eligible voters being wrongly flagged.
Right: Federal law is unambiguous that only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections, and the Justice Department sees its role as ensuring states enforce that law.
- Senate Skips Town, Leaving Trump-Backed Election Bill in Limbo
Aug 11, 2026
Left: Senate leadership, controlled by Republicans, chose to prioritize confirming Trump's attorney general pick and passing a spending bill over acting on election legislation, suggesting the SAVE America Act was not actually a governing priority despite the rhetoric.
Right: President Trump explicitly urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the August recess to pass the SAVE America Act, and Thune's refusal represents a leadership failure to heed the president's priorities.
- Trump Threatens to Block All Legislation Until Voting Bill Passes
Mar 8, 2026
Left: The threat to block all legislation creates a dangerous precedent of holding essential government functions hostage to advance partisan priorities
Right: The SAVE Act addresses fundamental election integrity by ensuring only American citizens can vote in federal elections, a basic principle that enjoys overwhelming bipartisan public support at 88% according to polling
- GOP finds hundreds of noncitizens on New Jersey voter rolls
Jun 8, 2026
Left: The noncitizens were unknowingly registered and actively sought removal from voter rolls, demonstrating the system's self-correcting mechanisms work
Right: Hundreds of ineligible noncitizens were registered to vote across all New Jersey counties, revealing systemic weaknesses in voter roll maintenance