Latest news with #DOJrequest
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illinois resists Trump DOJ request for sensitive voter data
The Brief President Trump's DOJ is requesting sensitive voter information from Illinois' state election authority. So far, Illinois officials have resisted the federal request for the data. Gov. JB Pritzker said he believes the administration wants the data to rig the 2026 elections. President Trump's Department of Justice is engaged in a tug-of-war with the State of Illinois' election authorities. The Illinois State Board of Elections is reviewing a request from the Department of Justice to get access to all the state's sensitive voter data, something that has legal experts confused and worried. So far, Illinois officials have resisted the federal government's request. What we know In a letter dated Aug. 14, the head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division asked Illinois Election Board Executive Director Sarah Matthews for sensitive data on Illinois voters. The data includes "the registrant's full name, date of birth, residential address, his or her state driver's license number or the last four digits of the registrant's social security number as required under the Help America Vote Act." The letter came after the board responded to an initial request by sending limited information on voters that protects personal data. It's the same information that the general public is able to purchase, and something utilized by political parties and action committees. But the DOJ said that response was not sufficient. Justin Levitt, an election law expert at Loyola Marymount Law School, said a Nixon-era law guaranteed that the federal government does not have a right to what it's asking for. "Just because the public can get it, just because you or I can walk in off the street and get the voter file, or just because a campaign can get the voter file, doesn't mean the federal government can," Levitt said. He also said he's concerned that the DOJ hasn't outlined exactly what they want to do with that info. "I shouldn't have to guess," he said. "We shouldn't have to guess. We shouldn't have to suppose. Federal law says you have to tell us before you start collecting our data." Last week, Gov. JB Pritzker mused that he thought the Trump administration was using this to try and 'rig' future elections. "Well, it's clear why they're hunting around for voter data, right?" Pritzker said. "They're trying to say that in the next election that there would be fraud because they know they're gonna lose." The request comes as Trump renewed his threat against mail-in voting on Monday, saying he would sign an executive order outlawing it, and making false claims of fraud. On this, Levitt also says the sole authority to run elections rests with state and local governments. "States don't have to listen to a federal executive order," Levitt said. "Executive orders tell the federal government what to do. They tell federal agencies what to do, but they can't tell state or local officials how to do their business." The Justice Department gave the Illinois Board of Elections until Wednesday to give up that information. A spokesperson for the board did not comment other than to say that they are reviewing the request. The Department of Justice said it has no comment on the matter.
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Department of Justice waiting for response on Massachusetts voter data
Election officials in Massachusetts are considering their response to the U.S. Department of Justice's request for the state's voter database. The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth received a letter from the department July 22, said the office's spokeswoman, Debra O'Malley. The letter asked the office for 'information and data' regarding the state's maintenance of the voter list, she said. It also asked for a copy of the state's database of voters. 'The letter is currently under review by our legal team,' O'Malley wrote in an email Monday. 'We have not responded at this time.' The request is one of several the department has made to election officials around the country, according to the Associated Press. The move has caused alarm among some officials because federal laws protect individuals' data when it comes to the government obtaining it. Furthermore, the constitutional duty to run elections rests with the states. The Republican asked the department what it planned to do with voter data and if there was a specific instance in Massachusetts that led it to request the information. The department responded with a statement by Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ's Civil Rights Division: 'Clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for free, fair, and transparent elections,' the statement said. 'The DOJ Civil Rights Division has a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, and ensuring the voting public's confidence in the integrity of our elections is a top priority of this administration.' Reporting by the Associated Press said the department had requested voter data from 15 states in various formats, including by phone or to propose entering into information-sharing agreements. The election administrators of those states are a bipartisan mix of five Republicans, nine Democrats and a commission of both parties in one, according to the Associated Press. While Massachusetts is mulling its response, Maine's secretary of state already has her answer for the federal government. Sharing the information would violate the privacy of the Pine Tree State's voters, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told the Associated Press. The Department of Justice 'doesn't get to know everything about you just because they want to,' Bellows, a Democrat, told the Associated Press. While the department historically has sought to protect voters who are seeking to cast their ballots, the request for the states' voter rolls suggests the department is shifting its focus, the Associated Press reported. For years, President Donald Trump falsely claimed there were widespread instances of voter fraud and noncitizens casting votes. more news from Western Massachusetts Eversource resumes push for controversial pipeline extension Making Chicopee 'a destination': City councilor aims to renew proposal to revitalize corridor Coalition lauds Holyoke mayor's clean energy vision Interfaith vigil honors immigrants in Mass. detained by ICE Easthampton event, 'A Call for Peace, Now More Than Ever,' to recall atomic bombs (Viewpoint) Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's DOJ wants states to turn over voter lists, election info
A voter casts an early ballot at a polling station in Milwaukee in 2023. Wisconsin is among at least nine states that have received requests from the U.S. Department of Justice for voter information, raising concerns among election officials about how the Trump administration will use the data. (Photo by Morry Gash/The Associated Press) The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the voter registration lists of several states — representing data on millions of Americans — and other election information ahead of the 2026 midterms, raising fears about how the Trump administration plans to use the information. The DOJ is also demanding Colorado turn over all records related to the 2024 election, a massive trove of documents that could include ballots and even voting equipment. The Colorado inquiry, the most sweeping publicly known request, underscores the extent of the administration's attention on state election activities. At least nine states have received requests for information over the past three months, according to letters from the DOJ obtained by Stateline. Some states also received emails from a DOJ official last week asking for meetings to discuss information-sharing agreements. The department's focus on elections comes after President Donald Trump directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in March to seek information about suspected election crimes from state election officials and empowered her to potentially withhold grants and other funds from uncooperative states. For years, Trump has advanced false claims about elections, including the idea that the 2020 election that he lost was stolen. Now back in power, his administration is taking a new level of interest in how states — and even local authorities — administer elections. Colorado Letter SoS Griswold Last week, a political operative approached several Republican county clerks in Colorado to enlist them in election integrity efforts in light of Trump's sweeping March executive order overhauling elections administration. One clerk told Stateline the operative claimed to represent the White House. 'Whatever the Trump administration tries to pull is very unlikely to be successful,' Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said in an interview, calling Colorado elections very secure. 'With that said, do I think they are trying to undermine our elections at large in this country? Absolutely.' DOJ has sent letters to Alaska, Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in addition to the request to Colorado. The letters have typically asked election officials to describe how they register voters and work to identify duplicate registrations and individuals not eligible to vote, such as people with felony convictions and those who have died. The Washington Post earlier Wednesday reported on the letters; Votebeat and NPR previously reported on some of the letters as well. Most letters also ask about each state's process for flagging noncitizen applicants. Noncitizen voting is against federal law and incredibly rare, but Trump and his allies have promoted false claims about its prevalence. The Trump administration is also conducting a general crackdown on illegal immigration. The letters call on election officials to turn over voter registration lists, which in some instances contain data on millions of residents in their states. This request has raised the most concerns, with some experts saying it's unclear exactly why the DOJ wants the information. 'They don't make much sense as law enforcement investigations. That makes me think that there's some other purpose,' said Justin Levitt, who served as senior policy adviser for democracy and voting rights in the Biden White House and is now a law professor at Loyola Marymount University. Trump's proof of citizenship elections order blocked for now in federal court While many states make their voter registration lists available to the public, Levitt emphasized the data could still be largely off-limits to the federal government. Federal privacy law sometimes restricts how the government can use data that's publicly obtainable. The DOJ may need voter information in some individual circumstances, but 'that's not blanket permission to go vacuuming up data.' The DOJ didn't respond to questions for this story. Federal laws restrict the federal government's ability to centralize information on Americans, said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research. Even if states provide voter registration information to the public, they often redact sensitive information. In Orange County, California, the DOJ sued local election officials in June, seeking unredacted voter registration information, such as Social Security numbers and driver's licenses, as part of an investigation into noncitizen voting. More than 350 election officials from some 33 states participated in a conference call about federal actions on Monday hosted by Becker, who was previously an attorney in the DOJ Voting Rights Section during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He said the interest in the call shows the level of uncertainty and anxiety over the current 'federal imposition' on election administrators. 'The DOJ seems dead set on acquiring personal information on voters, including driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth — records that are highly protected under federal law and under state law and which state election officials are sworn to protect,' Becker said. In Colorado, the amount of data the DOJ wants is enormous. On May 12, Harmeet Dhillon, an assistant U.S. attorney general in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to Griswold, the secretary of state, asking for access to 'all records' related to the 2024 election. Federal law requires state election officials to preserve records related to elections for 22 months. Typically, the rule ensures records are preserved in case any lawsuits are filed over an election. In the letter, Dhillon referred to a complaint against Griswold's office alleging noncompliance with records retention laws, but provided no details. The DOJ seems dead set on acquiring personal information on voters, including driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth — records that are highly protected under federal law and under state law and which state election officials are sworn to protect. – David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research Experts on election administration who spoke to Stateline expressed shock at the scope of the demand to Colorado. The request encompasses a vast trove of material, potentially including ballots. 'The amount of records being requested from a place like Colorado … it's really, really significant in terms of the volume of materials that are required to be retained,' said Neal Ubriani, a former voting rights litigator at the DOJ during the Obama and first Trump administrations and the current policy and research director at the nonpartisan Institute for Responsive Government. Colorado elections have previously drawn Trump's attention. Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a staunch Trump supporter, is serving a nine-year prison sentence after a conviction in state court for allowing unauthorized access to voting equipment in 2021. On May 5 of this year — a week before the Dhillon letter to Griswold — Trump posted on social media that Peters should be released, calling her a 'political prisoner.' Griswold noted the timing. 'I think the bigger picture is Donald Trump is continuing to try and rewrite the 2020 election and destabilize the '26 and '28 elections,' Griswold told Stateline. Trump signs broad elections order requiring proof of citizenship The Colorado Secretary of State's Office responded to the DOJ by providing copies of the state's master voter file and voter history file. All of the information provided is also available to the public. Some Colorado Republican county clerks in recent days have also been approached by Jeff Small, a political operative who worked at the U.S. Department of the Interior during the first Trump administration. Stateline and Colorado Newsline spoke to three GOP clerks who said they had spoken to Small last week. Steve Schleiker, clerk of El Paso County, which includes Colorado Springs and is the most populous county in the state, said that on July 9 he received a text and call from Small, who introduced himself in a voicemail as someone who 'works for the White House.' Schleiker said that when he called back, Small said he wanted to build relationships with clerks because the Trump administration was unhappy with progress on the president's elections executive order. He later connected Schleiker with a Homeland Security official who wanted to test the security of El Paso County's election systems, said Schleiker, who added that he opposed the request. Weld County Clerk Carly Koppes said she also heard from Small, but that Small told her he wasn't under contract or being paid for the calls. Small indicated he was making the calls on behalf of former colleagues, Koppes said. Small, a former Capitol Hill chief of staff who now works for a Colorado-based government affairs firm, didn't return a call to his office on Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agency works with local partners to ensure elections remain safe. 'We don't disclose every single conversation we have with them,' an unidentified DHS spokesperson wrote in an email. Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said he was aware of 10 clerks approached by Small. He noted that every clerk approached by Small hails from a county that uses Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems. While Dominion is widely used in Colorado, it's also been the subject of election conspiracy theories. A former candidate for county sheriff in southwest Colorado was arrested in June, accused of firebombing a clerk's office. Colorado Public Radio reported the suspect, according to law enforcement, had spoken publicly about trying to get rid of the county's Dominion machines. 'I think the really important thing to say here is that it was Republican clerks who stood up to a Republican administration and said, 'No, we're going to follow the law,'' Crane said. New voter registration rules threaten hefty fines, criminal penalties for groups The intent of the efforts by Small and the federal government 'has been muddied up it seems,' Montrose County Clerk Tressa Guynes said. Based on her conversations with other clerks, she said, it appeared Small represented one thing to other clerks and then 'represented maybe a watered-down version by the time it got to me.' Guynes said Small wanted to discuss Trump's elections executive order. She said Small asked whether she would be willing to support a federal task force's efforts in an advisory role. 'I said absolutely I will advise,' Guynes said. 'I said I'm frankly glad that they're finally reaching out to the boots on the ground, the people who actually conduct the elections, instead of listening to those who have never conducted a Colorado election.' As Colorado grapples with the most far-reaching request, other states are choosing how to respond. In Wisconsin, the state election commission responded to a DOJ request for the voter registration list with instructions on how to request public voter data. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, responded on June 2 — after DOJ in a May 20 letter told the state to ensure voter registration applicants provided a driver's license number, if they have one, instead of a partial Social Security number. The DOJ also wanted Arizona to check voters against a state database to look for noncitizens. Fontes replied that Arizona complies with federal law and conducts checks using a state motor vehicle division database. HAVA letter-redacted 'We are focused on dealing with DOJ in a good faith manner while ensuring we are following the letter of federal and state laws,' Fontes spokesperson JP Martin wrote in an email to Stateline. More recently, Arizona received a letter July 10 from DOJ about implementation of Trump's elections executive order. Rhode Island Democratic Secretary of State Gregg Amore also received an email about the order the same day, according to a copy provided to the Rhode Island Current. In the email, Scott Laragy, principal deputy director in the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, asks for a call to discuss a possible information-sharing agreement to provide DOJ with information on individuals who have registered to vote or have voted despite being ineligible, or those who have committed other forms of election fraud. The email echoes the language in Trump's elections executive order, which calls for DOJ to reach information-sharing agreements with states. While much of the order, which focused on proof of citizenship in elections, has been struck down in federal court, provisions related to information sharing remain. The executive order directs Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, to prioritize enforcement of federal 'election integrity laws' in uncooperative states. It also requires her to review grants and other DOJ funds that could be withheld from states that resist. Some states have already struck deals with the Trump administration. Indiana Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales announced an agreement last week with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services allowing the state to access a database to verify the citizenship of registered voters. Alabama Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen has signed a similar agreement. 'With your cooperation, we plan to use this information to enforce Federal election laws and protect the integrity of Federal elections,' Laragy wrote to Rhode Island. Janine Weisman of the Rhode Island Current and Lindsey Toomer of Colorado Newsline contributed to this report. Stateline reporter Jonathan Shorman can be reached at jshorman@ SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump DOJ seeks information about RI voter rolls ahead of midterm elections. What we know.
PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a "multi-pronged effort" to gather information on voter rolls in multiple states, including Rhode Island, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The email from the U.S. DOJ's Civil Rights Division to the Rhode Island's Secretary of State's Office carried this subject line: "Executive Order Implementation." It references an executive order by President Donald Trump titled: "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections." In the email, the DOJ's Paul Hayden and Scott Laragy requested a call or meeting "to discuss a potential information-sharing agreement," with Rhode Island. According to the email, the DOJ is seeking "information on, among other things, individuals who have registered to vote or have voted in your state despite being ineligible to vote, who may have committed other forms of election fraud, who may have provided false information to state authorities ... or who may otherwise have engaged in unlawful conduct relevant to the election process." "With your cooperation, we plan to use this information to enforce federal election laws and protect the integrity of Federal elections,'' the email says. Is Gregg Amore complying with the DOJ's request? Secretary of State Gregg Amore said "There is nothing to comply with at this point, it's just a request for a meeting. At this point we have not agreed to a meeting." "This is a highly unusual request as the states are constitutionally empowered to manage all aspects of elections that are not otherwise mandated by federal law," he continued. "It appears this is a continued attempt to promote the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and to undermine confidence in our elections – pretty consistent playbook from the Trump people," Amore said. What is Trump's DOJ looking for in the voter rolls? Here is what is known from Amore and national media reports: 'We received one inquiry from DOJ requesting a meeting to discuss our process around voter list maintenance, and systems in place to remove voters from our list," Amore explained. "We have not [yet] been asked for data," he said, or for access to voting equipment, which the state's Board of Elections, not the secretary of state's office, oversees. On July 16, the Washington Post reported that the Trump Administration and its allies launched similar efforts in states around the country. According to The Post: This "unusual activity is happening in Colorado — a state that then-candidate Donald Trump lost by 11 points — where a well-connected consultant who says he is working with the White House is asking county clerks whether they will allow the federal government or a third party to physically examine their election equipment." The DOJ also filed a Statement of Interest in Judicial Watch v. Illinois State Board of Elections, relating to state's requirements to remove ineligible voters from their rolls and make voter registration lists available for inspection. 'It is critical to remove ineligible voters from the registration rolls so that elections are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud,' said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in a statement regarding that filing. The Washington Post also reported that the DOJ has asked at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls, and have received them from at least two states. It is not yet clear what, in total, the DOJ is seeking from Rhode Island. Not the first time Trump's administration has tried to dig into RI voter rolls It is not the first time representatives of President Donald Trump have attempted to dig into states' voter lists and inspect voting equipment. In 2017, then-Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea resisted and then- Gov. Gina Raimondo said Rhode Island would not comply with a request from President Donald Trump's Election Integrity Commission to all 50 states. The commission asked states for the name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, last four Social Security number digits and voting history back to 2006 of potentially every voter in the state. Gorbea said at the time she would "respond only with data that is already publicly available. I will not release Social Security information or any information that was requested ... regarding felony status, military status, or overseas citizen information.'' Those inquiries came after Trump signed an executive order launching a commission to review alleged voter fraud and voter suppression. The order followed his unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI voter rolls may be underscrutiny by Trump DOJ ahead of 2026 midterms
