Politics and views in the United States

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

The federal government is bound by data privacy laws that are pretty ironclad.

And if any federal official violated those data privacy laws, they would face criminal liability for doing so.

Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose says he's confident in the security of the unredacted personal data of 8 million state voters he's turned over to the Department of Justice.

Several Republican-run states cite privacy concerns when resisting administration demands for similar information.

LaRose says he'll use the controversial Federal SAVE program, which tracks citizenship and public benefits. to stop non-citizen voting, but a 2024 audit run by LaRose himself found only one of every 16,000 voters registered in Ohio were non-citizens. probably registered by mistake.

Meanwhile, Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes says the Trump administration is waging a full frontal assault on the state's mail-in voting system.

Until one particular Republican lost.

Arizona officials are warning county recorders not to turn over unredacted voter files for an FBI investigation into what critics say are unfounded conspiracy theories about 2020.

A preliminary Pentagon investigation found the U.S. likely made the late February missile strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed 175 people, mostly children.

President Donald Trump blamed Iran for the attack, although the probe found the school was hit by a tomahawk missile.

Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin says Iran doesn't have tomahawks.

And I think the president knows that.

He just knows that this is certainly a mistake, a big mistake. state, any drones would likely have to be smuggled in or launched by boats since they lack the range.

A new NPR PBS Maris poll finds Americans are losing trust in election administration.

Two out of three say they're confident their state and local governments will run fair and accurate midterms, but the rest expressed little or no confidence.

That's up ten percentage points from last year.

Democrats mainly said they're concerned about voter suppression, while a majority of Republicans say they fear voter fraud.

Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis says he'll hold off on deciding whether to grant former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters clemency until a state court of appeals issues a ruling in her case.

Peters was found guilty of providing a third party with unauthorized access to secure voting equipment in 2020.

Kyle Giddings with the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition says giving her clemency after just one year in prison would set an unfortunate precedent.

I just can't imagine what the impact would be on people that are currently incarcerated. throughout Colorado.

I'm Kathryn Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice. org.