Overview
- The Department of Justice sent identical seven‑page letters to election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., that were signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and warned officials they "could be subject to criminal liability" if they knowingly retain or facilitate votes by noncitizens.
- The letters asked states to explain how they will comply with federal voter‑eligibility laws and to reply within five days, a demand that multiple state secretaries of state called threatening and that many officials have publicly rejected.
- The outreach follows a suite of Trump administration moves that include litigation to obtain uncensored voter rolls and FEMA grant guidance that conditions about 20% of certain antiterrorism funds on steps such as citizenship verification, audits, and plans for hand‑marked paper ballots.
- Courts have repeatedly limited the administration’s efforts: judges have blocked or vacated parts of the SAVE overhaul and dismissed multiple DOJ suits seeking voter data, with reporting noting at least 11 district‑court losses and conflicting rulings that create legal uncertainty.
- Election experts and studies say noncitizen voting is vanishingly rare, and officials warn that federal data requests and sharing plans with DHS raise accuracy, privacy, and chilling‑effect concerns that could strain state election offices before the 2026 midterms.