A new group handing out free American flags to Arizonans is actually a part of Turning Point Action’s latest effort to harvest voter data ahead of the 2026 election.
On the morning of July 4, Roadrunner Park in Phoenix was packed with people visiting the local farmer’s market, taking their kids to the playground and feeding ducks at the manmade pond.
Near the market, volunteers at a tent marked “Fly the Flag” encouraged people to check their voter registration status.
“And if you check your registration and show me your status, I’ll give you a free flag,” a volunteer, who identified himself as Keith, told a woman who visited the booth.
Keith encouraged people to check their registration on flytheflag.com, though he told the woman she could also go to Maricopa County’s official beballotready.gov website.
“Either one works,” Keith said. “Fly the Flag is a privately-funded initiative. It’s non-partisan.”
But the group does have partisan connections.
Fly the Flag’s website includes no information about who runs or funds that initiative.
But the “contact us” link on flytheflag.com links to Turning Point Action, the political arm of the prominent conservative group Turning Point USA. A handful of flyers at the Fly the Flag booth also carried a small Turning Point Action logo.
Turning Point Action is an explicitly partisan organization that has endorsed dozens of Republican candidates in Arizona and across the country.
Turning Point Action and Turning Point USA did not respond to requests for comment.
Keith also claimed that Fly the Flag won’t collect or use the information people enter on its website to check their registration, which includes names, contact information, addresses and dates of birth.
But, again, that’s not true.
The Fly the Flag website includes a form created by Vote.Online, which also goes by @Vote, a new non-profit organization with a stated goal to register voters nationwide.
Vote.Online is also closely tied to Turning Point, KJZZ reported in April.
The organization lists Turning Point USA’s Phoenix headquarters as its address and its CEO is Amy Smith, a longtime Turning Point employee who is married to former Turning Point executive Austin Smith, who resigned from the Arizona House of Representatives after he was caught forging signatures on petitions for his re-election campaign.
The @Vote form on Fly the Flag’s website says the gathered data will be used to send “recurring text messages, including messages sent using automated technology, for purposes of voter engagement, civic information, organizational updates, and donation requests.”
And @Vote’s privacy policy says it will share data with third-party partners who post its forms, like Fly the Flag.
The Fly the Flag website includes no information about whether it plans to store, share or use the information gathered by voters.
Roadrunner Park, where Fly the Flag was reaching out to voters on Independence Day is located in Congressional District 1 and Legislative District 4, two extremely competitive districts where Turning Point Action-endorsed candidates are on the ballot.
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