The U.S. Department of Justice is threatening legal action against the state of Minnesota over election officials’ ongoing refusal to hand over the state’s voter registration list.
DOJ officials sent a letter last week to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office making a second request for its voter rolls, saying it wants to “ascertain Minnesota’s compliance” with federal requirements for maintenance of the list.
“Please be advised that failure by Minnesota to provide its statewide voter registration list may result in legal action,” read the Aug. 13 letter, signed by Harmeet K. Dhillon, an assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s civil rights division.
The DOJ has requested voter data from states across the country, part of a reported shift away from its historical role of protecting access to the ballot. Now, federal officials are instead focused on voting issues raised by conservative activists, including unfounded claims of voter fraud. The DOJ declined to comment.
During his first term, President Donald Trump appointed a commission that tried and failed to collect voter data from states across the country. This time, similar requests are being made but with the weight of federal law enforcement behind them.
“It feels much different,” Secretary of State Steve Simon told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “It feels escalated and elevated.”
Simon, who is a possible candidate for governor next year if Gov. Tim Walz does not run again, denied the DOJ’s first request earlier this summer and said the federal government did not provide an adequate legal justification.
Minnesota officials have resisted additional federal attempts to collect other personal data, which several legal experts have said is legally sound because Congress put tight controls on how much oversight power the federal government has over elections. Legislative Republicans, however, have urged Simon to comply with the federal requests.
