This week, the Justice Department sent identical letters to election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., warning that anyone who knowingly kept noncitizens on voter rolls or let their ballots get counted could face criminal prosecution. Each state was given just five days to respond with proof of compliance.
The letters came from Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Election officers, “including the chief election officer of the state,” who knowingly keep noncitizens on voter rolls or allow their ballots to be counted “could be subject to criminal liability,” she wrote.
States were told to explain within five days how they planned to comply and how the department could “assist” them in doing so. After the letters landed, a DOJ spokesperson offered a gentler public description, calling them a request for “voluntary compliance in a timely manner.”
That wasn’t exactly how many election officials saw it.
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Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson, a Republican who oversees elections in her state, sounded more exhausted than surprised. “Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she posted.
She added that she doubted she was the only election official receiving similar treatment “for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.”
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Arizona’s response sounded much the same. “It is insulting to insinuate that the good people at our county recorders’ offices across the state are not doing their jobs correctly,” he said.
He also made clear his office would “continue following Arizona law — not directions that come from political rhetoric or intimidation.”
PRESS RELEASE: Statement from Secretary Fontes Regarding U.S. Department of Justice Letter on Voter Registration pic.twitter.com/ZXF9GJAgGZ
— Arizona Secretary of State (@AZSecretary) July 7, 2026
Dhillon, for her part, saw things differently.
Speaking during a television interview, she acknowledged the pressure campaign while insisting it wasn’t meant to frighten anyone. “I don’t want to scare anybody, but if that’s having the impact of fear, that means that some people are worried that they’re actually violating the law, and we want them to stop,” she said.
Dhillon also claimed her office had uncovered “hundreds of thousands of dead people on the voter rolls” and “tens of thousands of non-citizens on the voter rolls” in states that cooperated with earlier reviews.
Not everyone is convinced those claims hold up.
David Becker, a former DOJ voting rights lawyer who now leads the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, argued the letters reflect an investigation that still hasn’t produced what officials were looking for.
“This is what panic and desperation looks like,” Becker said. “They’ve had 18 months to find evidence of a crime that was never committed, and found nothing. And now they fall back on crude and transparent bullying tactics.”
Featured image via X screengrab
