{"id":59,"date":"2026-07-08T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T12:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/08\/doj-warns-of-criminal-charges-for-state-election-officials-if-noncitizens-vote\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T12:43:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T12:43:00","slug":"doj-warns-of-criminal-charges-for-state-election-officials-if-noncitizens-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/08\/doj-warns-of-criminal-charges-for-state-election-officials-if-noncitizens-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ warns of criminal charges for state election officials if noncitizens vote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Justice Department<\/a> sent letters warning election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia<\/a> that they could face criminal prosecution over noncitizen<\/a> voting, a spokesperson for the Justice Department<\/a> confirmed Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The letters, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the department\u2019s Civil Rights Division, give states five days to explain how they will comply with federal voter eligibility laws and how they will maintain \u201cclean voter lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections,\u201d a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare<\/a>, but Donald Trump<\/a> and his administration have falsely portrayed it as a widespread issue.<\/p>\n

Michigan<\/a> Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Nevada<\/a> Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Utah<\/a> Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson are among those who said they received the letters from the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

The letters say state election officers \u201ccould be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting\u201d noncitizen voting. They further specify that any election officer who knowingly retains noncitizens on a statewide voting registration list or who facilitates noncitizens\u2019 receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation\u201d of federal law, the letters said.<\/p>\n

Henderson wrote on social media<\/a> that the threats constitute \u201ctruly bizarre behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGot another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ\u2019s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letters are the latest move in the Justice Department\u2019s campaign to assert more federal control over state elections.<\/p>\n

While some states have complied with the administration\u2019s demands that they hand over voter roll data<\/a>, the Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for resisting. So far, 11 different federal courts have dismissed the Justice Department\u2019s efforts to seize voter rolls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department sent letters warning election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that they could…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_aioseo_title":"","_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affairs360.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}