Overview

• On July 9, the DOJ Voting Section sent letters to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego counties requesting names, dates of birth, driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers, voting histories and counts of non-citizens removed since 2020.
• After redacting sensitive identifiers under state privacy laws, Orange County was sued by the DOJ for refusing to fully comply with a similar data request issued in June.
• New Hampshire and Minnesota have formally declined to provide their voter registration records, with Minnesota officials noting the DOJ’s letter failed to cite a legal basis for the demand.
• Critics, including election law experts, say the effort reflects a misreading of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act and represents a shift away from anti-discrimination enforcement.
• Non-citizen voting fraud is extraordinarily rare, prompting questions about the necessity and proportionality of collecting extensive personal data.