In the News
Issues of public integrity in the news
Arizona reporting on campaign finance, ethics, open government and official misconduct, gathered daily from established Arizona news organizations, plus reporting that tests claims of election fraud against the evidence (tagged Election claims, checked). Links go to the original outlets. Last updated October 30, 2026.
Q: Are voting machines changing Democratic votes to Republican votes? Several posts on Facebook are making that claim. A: There is no evidence that touchscreen voting machines are deliberately switching voter selections. Rather, elections experts and state election officials…
Arizona’s top election official and attorney general have dropped their lawsuit asking a judge to force Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap to reinstate the voting rights of 25 people who were falsely flagged as noncitizens by a federal database. The resolution came after…
The Arizona Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Citizens Clean Elections Commission does not have the legal authority to overturn the secretary of state’s qualification of a candidate. But it also said that it won’t stop the commission, which oversees the state’s public…
Arizona’s top election official and attorney general are asking a judge to force Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap to reinstate the voting rights of 25 people who were falsely flagged as noncitizens by a database created by the Trump administration. The lawsuit, filed by…
A pair of Green Party candidates dismissed allegations they fraudulently obtained millions in public campaign funding as a “black helicopter” conspiracy theory, but the director of the Clean Elections Commission told the Arizona Supreme Court on Monday that investigators have…
A bill advancing at the Arizona Legislature seeks to add protections for property owners from having their title documents forged.
The notice of claim filed by a former student and athlete centers around former basketball coach Patrick Batillo, known around the Valley as 'MR ORNG.'
Kishawn Porter was indicted in the death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old son in Mesa, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office says.
The state’s highest court is set to determine whether the Clean Elections Commission has the power to investigate whether two Green Party candidates fraudulently obtained millions in public campaign funds and then claw back the money if it concludes they did. Risa Lombardo and…
The director of the Clean Elections Commission told the Arizona Supreme Court that two Green Party candidates being investigated for campaign finance fraud are working to “recklessly vilify public servants” through their lawsuit against the commission. “Snide soundbites, cloaked…
Once candidates qualify to receive public campaign funds, there’s nothing the Clean Elections Commission can do to claw back that funding, even if fraud is later discovered, two Green Party candidates being investigated for fraudulently qualifying for millions in public campaign…
Two Green Party candidates under investigation for fraudulently obtaining millions in public campaign funds are attempting to dodge subpoenas for records related to the accusations against them. And the Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected their bid to block the…
Officials with the Arizona Attorney General's Office say a man who was indicted for negligent homicide following a woman's shooting death in Mesa is still working for the office.
The Arizona Department of Housing did not conduct inspections for one or more federal health and safety standards in the units it used tax credits to help finance, according to a new report. The post Audit finds issues with Arizona’s affordable housing inspections first appeared…
State auditors found multiple problems with the Arizona Department of Housing’s policies and training, and found that it took the department months in some cases to notify property owners of “health and safety” issues. The report the Arizona Auditor General’s Office released…
A federal appeals court on Wednesday said Arizona’s law that forces disclosure of anonymous campaign spending is constitutional, rejecting the claims of a conservative group that argued that the law violated the First Amendment rights of people who want to secretly influence…
A federal grand jury indicted 10 noncitizens for unlawfully voting in Minnesota, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday, highlighting the administration’s effort to keep election security a top issue, in line with President Donald Trump’s longstanding unsubstantiated…
A monthslong investigation into the citizenship of 60 Maricopa County voters found eight had voted but no evidence of an effort to get non-citizens to vote, the county attorney said.
Selection is automated by keyword from a fixed list of Arizona outlets and is not an endorsement of any story's conclusions. Headlines and summaries belong to the publishers.
Claims that keep resurfacing, and what audits, courts and fact-checkers found when they were tested.
The film's distributor pulled it and apologized to a Georgia voter it accused of a crime; the filmmaker later conceded key claims were flawed, and the defamation case settled in 2026.
Every audit and study that has looked finds it vanishingly rare. Georgia's 2024 citizenship audit found 20 noncitizens among 8.2 million registrations; a Brennan Center review of 23.5 million 2016 votes found about 30 suspected cases.
- 6 facts about false noncitizen voting claims and the election KJZZ / NPR, October 12, 2024
- Georgia GOP secretary of state reports audit found 20 noncitizens registered to vote out of 8.2M Georgia Recorder, October 24, 2024
- Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions Brennan Center for Justice, May 5, 2017
False. About 50,000 Arizona voters had not yet submitted citizenship documents; a legal settlement only added a way to check them. None had been shown to be noncitizens.
- Fox News report feeds false claim about noncitizens on Arizona voter rolls Votebeat, April 14, 2025
- No, Arizona election officials aren't removing '50,000 noncitizens from voter rolls' PolitiFact, April 18, 2025
- Arizona election official's claim of noncitizen voters is based on shaky data Votebeat, February 18, 2026
The Arizona Senate's own partisan review, run by Cyber Ninjas, hand-counted 2.1 million ballots and confirmed the county's certified result, giving Biden slightly more votes than the official tally.
- Arizona 'audit' finds Biden won (by more votes) and no evidence of fraud Arizona Mirror, September 23, 2021
- The controversial election review in Arizona confirms Biden's win NPR, September 24, 2021