Yellow Jacket InitiativeElections and voter rolls
SAVE, voter files, citizenship checks, election workers and the courts. Every piece we have published on it, oldest first, so you can see what changed and when. The newest is at the bottom.
- May 18, 2026
Piece 1The National Voter List (on Substack)
What Six Weeks of Documentary Evidence Have Been Building Toward
- October 22, 2026
Piece 2The Supreme Court lets the expanded SAVE citizenship check run again
What the Court's September 25 order in DHS v. League of Women Voters (No. 26A308) says, what it leaves for December 8, and what the dissent says.
- October 23, 2026
Piece 3Voter groups ask a court to stop DHS from using state voter files. Here is what the complaint says.
The League of Women Voters, EPIC and LULAC sued DHS on October 15 (D.D.C. No. 1:26-cv-03602). Their complaint says DHS holds voter files from at least 47 states outside SAVE, with no Privacy Act notice. These are allegations; the government has not answered.
- October 24, 2026
Piece 4A Scanner on the Certificate That the Lab Never Tested
The Election Assistance Commission's inspector general found that the federal certificate for the Democracy Suite 5.20 voting system listed an untested scanner, judged the practical impact limited, and recorded the EAC's commitment to correct the record by Monday, October 26.
- October 24, 2026
Piece 5The Justice Department Asks a Federal Court to Hold Alaska's Senate Certification, Under the Voter-Registration Law's Purposes Clause
In United States v. Alaska, filed 12 days before Election Day, the United States asks that certification of the Senate race be barred in one defined scenario, relying on a state election director's June finding that state courts later set aside.
- October 24, 2026
Piece 6Arlington County Asks a Court to Keep Armed Federal Agents Away From Its Polls
On Tuesday, October 20, the County Board sued DHS, ICE, the Justice Department and the FBI under 18 U.S.C. 592, an 1865 law that bars federal officials from keeping armed men where an election is held. The policies it challenges are built from officials' public statements. Every fact is the County's allegation; no ruling yet.
- October 25, 2026
Piece 7Passport Records, "Verification Platforms," and Voter Eligibility: What State's New Notice Says
A State Department Privacy Act notice published Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, proposes a new routine use that would let government agencies and non-profit organizations "utilizing federal government verification platforms" use passport records to verify citizenship for purposes that include "voter eligibility." Comments are due Monday, Nov. 23, 2026.
- October 29, 2026
Piece 8A federal judge vacated FEMA's grant conditions that tied counterterrorism money to SAVE checks of every registered voter
In Nashville v. DHS, a court set aside a 20% holdback of FY2026 homeland-security grants tied to SAVE checks of voter rolls and poll workers. It reaches nonparties; an appeal is open.
- October 30, 2026
Piece 9Social Security puts each number holder's identity and citizenship fields in one new system
A new SSA system of records, published Oct. 30, carries an existing routine use to DHS "to identify and locate aliens." New routine uses take effect, and comments are due, Nov. 30.
- October 31, 2026
Piece 10A federal judge temporarily bars DOJ and DHS from threatening to prosecute election workers who count listed voters' ballots
In SEIU v. DOJ, filed Oct. 29, Judge Trina Thompson granted a restraining order the next day under Voting Rights Act section 11(b). It runs to Nov. 16. The government says it will seek relief.
- November 2, 2026
Piece 11Washington groups sue to stop a federal demand to hold about 405 ballots
In OneAmerica Votes v. Trump, filed Oct. 30 in Seattle, three groups say a DOJ letter built on a federal voter list, and prosecution warnings, coerce election officials. The State is not a party.
- November 4, 2026
Piece 12League of Women Voters v. DHS: a federal judge bars DOJ and DHS from sending more suspected-noncitizen voter lists to election officials in any state
Judge Chutkan's Nov. 2 order is preliminary and nationwide. SAVE citizenship checks and prosecutions are carved out. The government says it is complying; no appeal is on the docket as of Nov. 4.
- November 6, 2026
Piece 13Common Cause v. DOJ: a federal judge set aside the Justice Department's voter-list policy on Oct. 9, and the department has asked the appeals court to pause that ruling
The policy: collect state voter files, share them with DHS for SAVE checks, ask states to remove flagged voters. A stay was denied Nov. 2; DOJ's D.C. Circuit motion is pending as of Nov. 4.