Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent Harmeet Dhillon voting letters to top election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, warning that they could face criminal prosecution over possible noncitizen voting. The letters gave state officials five days to explain how they plan to comply with federal voter eligibility laws.
Harmeet Dhillon and state responses
A Department of Justice spokesperson said the letters were sent to all 50 states and the District of Columbia and asked for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections. Dhillon leads the Civil Rights Division, and her letters said any election officer who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state's SVRL or helps them receive and cast ballots could be subject to criminal liability.
Copies reviewed by Democracy Docket show the letters went to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his office also received one, and he replied that it was insulting to suggest county recorders were not doing their jobs correctly.
Fontes added that Arizona election officials have always worked to ensure that only eligible citizens are registered to vote, and that they will continue following Arizona law rather than directions that come from political rhetoric or intimidation. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said on social media that she received the letter and called it “truly bizarre behavior” from an agency “that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.”
National Voter Registration Act dispute
The letters arrived as Trump and his allies continued to press restrictions aimed at alleged widespread noncitizen voting, even though no evidence has been produced for that claim in the source materials. The Department of Justice also issued a memo saying the National Voter Registration Act's 90-day quiet period does not apply to removing non-citizens who were never eligible to register in the first place, while acknowledging contrary authority from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
The five-day deadline puts state election offices on notice to state their compliance approach in writing, including how voter list maintenance would work if a state says a registrant was never eligible under federal law. That leaves the immediate question of which state-specific findings, if any, the Department of Justice used to send the same warning to every state and Washington, D.C.
