Justice Department Tells 29 States to Preserve 2024 Election Records

The Justice Department has instructed election officials in 29 states and the District of Columbia to preserve records from the 2024 election, widening an effort to obtain detailed voter registration information that has so far met repeated defeats in court.

The letters direct officials not to destroy hard-copy documents or electronically stored information. They warn that failure to preserve relevant data could amount to spoliation of evidence and expose recipients to civil and criminal sanctions.

In one letter, a department official told Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican who serves as the state's top elections officer, that she is under investigation and is subject to ongoing litigation over Utah's refusal to hand over statewide voter registration lists. The department declined to elaborate on the nature of the investigation.

The correspondence went to states the administration has sued in its bid to access voter rolls containing addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the department's Civil Rights Division, described the letters as routine litigation practice rather than a threat, saying they are meant to ensure states do not destroy election records tied to the lawsuits.

Henderson said her office received its letter on Friday and that none of the many earlier communications from the department had stated she was under investigation. She said her office understands the need to retain records during litigation but criticized what she called a steady stream of baseless accusations that do nothing to secure elections. Her office previously received a July letter asserting that officials could be prosecuted if noncitizen votes were included in tallies.

Election offices in Arizona and Minnesota confirmed receiving the letters. A spokesperson for the Arizona office said it will follow the law and called any suggestion otherwise disrespectful to election administrators. Minnesota's secretary of state office said it will comply but noted the request exceeds the federal requirement to keep records for 22 months after an election.

The preservation demand could open the door for the department to seek access to state election records as part of the administration's pursuit of voter fraud. The FBI has already obtained records or equipment related to the 2020 or 2024 elections from the most populous counties in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia and Michigan without disclosing what it was seeking.

Federal officials say they need the voter data to verify that states are complying with federal laws on maintaining registration lists, though states already have detailed procedures for doing so. Some election officials worry the request conflicts with state privacy laws and that the information could be used for other purposes, such as identifying potential noncitizens. In one case, a department attorney acknowledged seeking unredacted voter roll information so it could be shared with the Department of Homeland Security to check citizenship status.

Judges have repeatedly dismissed the department's lawsuits seeking the detailed data, and Attorney General Todd Blanche has suggested the administration might take the fight to the Supreme Court.

The letters arrive as the administration continues to raise concerns about voter fraud, particularly voting by noncitizens. Such fraud does occur and is prosecuted, but it is rare, and there has been no evidence of widespread fraud affecting American elections.

Earlier this year, President Trump issued an executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and involve the U.S. Postal Service in election operations in a way that would limit mail voting. A challenge to that order is before the Supreme Court. The president has also urged Congress to pass legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, with the measure taking effect for the midterms.