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The Department of Justice has begun investigating how states manage and purge ineligible voters from their rolls, with a particular focus on battleground states. In some instances, the DOJ has requested access to voter data from the states.
Led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is overseeing the effort, which includes a lawsuit against Orange County, California, for allegedly failing to provide complete voter roll information.
According to USA Today, the department is conducting a comprehensive, state-by-state review of how election officials handle voter registration records and remove ineligible names.
The review is centered on swing states and follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, which aimed to implement new voter registration requirements and advance voting policies long championed by Republicans.
The DOJ sent nearly identical letters to election officials in Minnesota, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, requesting detailed explanations of how they identify and remove felons, deceased individuals, nonresidents, and noncitizens from voter rolls.
In a separate letter to Arizona officials, the DOJ recommended requiring voters to register using their driver’s license numbers rather than the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. The department also asked Arizona to conduct a review of its voter file.
In California, the DOJ sued Orange County after officials allegedly failed to provide sufficient identifying information in response to a federal records request. The lawsuit references a complaint involving a noncitizen who reportedly received a ballot. While the county did submit some data, it redacted certain elements like identification numbers and signatures, which the DOJ argues is unlawful. The department is now seeking a court order to obtain the full information.
The DOJ also requested complete statewide voter registration lists from Nevada and Minnesota, including both active and inactive voters. Inactive voters are typically those who haven’t participated in recent elections but remain on the rolls pending removal.
In Oregon, the DOJ is backing a lawsuit by Judicial Watch, which claims the state has an excessive number of registered voters compared to its voting-age population. The lawsuit seeks to compel the state to develop a more rigorous removal process. Oregon argues that Judicial Watch lacks legal standing and has not demonstrated harm, both of which are prerequisites for the case to proceed.
Similarly, Judicial Watch alleges that in Illinois, 11 counties failed to remove any voter registrations between November 2020 and November 2022, while another 12 counties removed 15 or fewer. The lawsuit does not accuse anyone of voting illegally but questions whether so few people could have moved or died during that time.
The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
“When Illinois voters cast their ballots, they should be confident that their vote is given its due weight, undiluted by ineligible voters,” the DOJ wrote in a July 21 filing. “This confidence is the bedrock of participatory democracy.”
“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 Dhillon in a statement provided to USA Today. She added that the department will “vigorously enforce” the federal requirement for states to “conduct a robust program of list maintenance.”
