Arizona Republicans’ partisan review of the 2020 election results got off to a rocky start when their contractors broke rules for counting ballots and election experts warned the work was dangerous for democracy. When the auditors stopped the counting and returned the ballots this week, it hadn’t gotten better. In the last week alone, the only audit leader with substantial election experience was locked out of the building, said he was quitting, then reversed course hours later. The review’s Twitter accounts were suspended. A conservative Republican senator withdrew her support, calling the review “botched.” And the lead auditor confirmed it was funded mostly by supporters of former President Donald Trump. 

Republican Georgia lawmakers have started a process that could lead to a takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county. Many in the GOP continue claiming wrongdoing in Fulton County stole the 2020 election from then-President Donald Trump, even though an independent monitor found no evidence of fraud or impropriety. They’re using a tool created by the state’s sweeping new election law to exert state influence over local elections. Democrats and voting rights advocates decry the takeover provision as an invitation to political interference. Republican state House members on Friday demanded a performance review of the county’s board of elections. Senators sent a similar letter this week.

President Joe Biden has signed emergency legislation that will bolster security at the Capitol, repay outstanding debts from the violent Jan. 6 insurrection and increase the number of visas for allies who worked alongside Americans in the Afghanistan war. The Senate approved the $2.1 billion legislation early Thursday afternoon, 98-0, and the House passed it immediately afterward, 416-11. Senators struck a bipartisan agreement on the legislation this week, two months after the House had passed a bill that would have provided around twice as much for Capitol security. 

Top congressional Democrats huddled with President Joe Biden, looking to salvage their push to enact voting rights legislation. The meeting Friday between Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer comes after Democrats were forced back to the drawing board with their signature voting bill, after Senate Republicans blocked it with a filibuster last month. They've retooled the proposal and presented a framework to Biden. They also discussed a separate bill that would restore key portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Election officials and experts are raising alarms about the private fundraising surrounding Republican-led reviews of the 2020 presidential election, an effort that is expanding to more states former President Donald Trump falsely claims he won. While some fundraising details have come to light, little is known about how much has been raised at this point and from whom. In Arizona, several groups connected to supporters of Trump's election falsehoods have contributed more than $5 million to the ongoing review there. Election experts say the public instead should focus on researching the bipartisan, post-election audits done by election officials using verified, fact-based methods.