Hello, and welcome back to The Franchise!
This week we’ll unpack the latest developments and the crucial backstory behind the Trump administration’s Maricopa County 2020 election probe. We’ve also got Cleta Mitchell celebrating (and taking credit for) Senate Republican leadership finally caving to Trump and opening a marathon debate of the SAVE America Act, and, relatedly, Florida, taking a cue from the Trump administration and passing its own version of the SAVE America Act.
Let’s dig in.
GOP Maricopa County Recorder Eager to Comply With DOJ Election Probe
We’re going to unpack the latest as the DOJ expands its supposed 2020 election probe in Maricopa County, Arizona. But, first, a little reminder of what’s going on.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration expanded its 2020 election probe to Maricopa County. The FBI reportedly issued a grand jury subpoena to the Arizona state Senate for 2020 election records, with the hopes of finding fraud that multiple audits and investigations have shown does not exist. It is all part of President Trump’s ongoing weaponization of the Justice Department as a White House-run entity that acts on his grievances and carries out his personal retribution.
Despite the fact that Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes specifically warned county recorders to not cave to the administration’s demands for sensitive voter data last week, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a Republican, said on a recent podcast that he would be “happy to comply.”
“My office is certainly willing to comply with a court order if we receive it to turn over records, but we have not had that request come in for us,” Heap said during a Friday radio interview on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.
“The FBI or an agency needs to go to court, get an order for us, and if that’s the case, we’re happy to comply,” he added.
Fontes and Mayes, in warning county recorders not to hand over voter data to the DOJ, explained in their joint letter that the department may try to use the expanded election probe in Arizona to access sensitive voter files. The effort to get voter file data is all part of the administration’s months-long campaign to seize voter information (including drivers license numbers and social security numbers) from states across the country — information that it is not entitled to.
Heap, who has been the Maricopa County recorder since 2025, may not be an outright election denier himself, but has definitely flirted with Big Lie-adjacent themes in the past. In 2024, he refused to answer questions about whether he believes the 2022 election was stolen from MAGA ally and bigtime ‘Stop the Steal’ adherent Kari Lake, and whether he believes the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Instead of answering these straightforward questions in 2024, according to reporting from the Arizona Mirror, he told reporters the following: “I’m an attorney. I will only make statements that I feel I can prove.”
Not a great look for the person responsible for managing elections!
Heap also voted in favor of some pretty concerning election bills during his time as a state lawmaker, including measures to ban electronic voting machines, and mandate hand-counting ballots — both proposals originate from 2020 election conspiracy theories about machines magically flipping votes and are bad for the safety and integrity of elections.
Cleta Mitchell Takes Credit for SAVE America Act Movement
This week Republican leadership in the Senate procedurally kicked off what is expected to be a marathon debate and eventual Senate vote — without changing filibuster rules — on the SAVE America Act, a restrictive election bill that, among other things, would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.
As experts have explained to TPM, the bill would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters who do not have documentary proof of citizenship documents readily available, as well as some low-income Americans and/or married women who change their last name who do not have updated photo IDs, which would also be mandatory for voting.
For weeks now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has been facing mounting pressure from Trump and MAGA devotees, including Cleta Mitchell, to bring the SAVE America Act to the Senate Floor and change filibuster rules in order to pass it. Thune has repeatedly said there is not enough support in the Senate to change filibuster rules.
Debate on the bill is expected to last into next week.
And Mitchell now wants some credit for the bill finally being taken up by the Senate this week.
“There is going to be debate – organized so @LeaderJohnThune maintains control of the floor,” Mitchell wrote in a post on X earlier this week. “All of this is a sea change from a week ago. Or even since last Tuesday.”
Even though the Senate is debating the bill, the proposal is almost certain to fail as it still needs a supermajority to pass.
Florida Pushes Through Its Own Version of the SAVE America Act
Florida officially passed its very own version of the SAVE America Act on Friday.
The Florida bill, like its federal counterpart, the SAVE America Act, is a documentary proof of citizenship bill that requires citizenship status to be verified by records from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in order to register to vote.
Florida is just one of many states that has approved or is in the process of approving proof of citizenship legislation. The bill is set to go into effect on January 1 of next year, so we won’t see the impacts of the bill play out in the midterms. Sponsors of the legislation were originally pushing for the law to go into effect before the August primaries.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon sign the bill into law.
As we have previously reported at TPM, it is not a coincidence that state-level proof of citizenship bills are popping up at the same exact time that the Trump administration struggles to push through the SAVE America Act. This state-level effort is a way for the Trump administration to continue to push through its agenda in red states.
This Florida bill, like the SAVE America Act, will make it harder for eligible voters to cast ballots and will perpetuate the myth that non-citizens are voting in elections. Of course, there is zero evidence to suggest this is happening. This is indeed a solution to a problem that does not exist.
In Other Election News
Politico: ‘We’re going to have a problem’: Republicans want Trump to move on from 2020
Democracy Docket: Virginia vs. Florida: Trump’s redistricting arms race isn’t over yet
New York Times: Trump’s Gutting of Election Security Fuels Worries for Midterms
New York Times: Following Trump, Republicans in Congress Propose to Ban Most Voting by Mail
