The Department of Justice on Thursday sent letters to elections officials in multiple states threatening potential prosecution if they fail to preserve election records, an unusually aggressive posture toward election officials in the days before the midterms.
The seemingly identical letters, which were signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, threatened “up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine” for election officials who failed to uphold record-keeping laws.
“To protect the franchise and maintain public confidence in our democratic process, Congress requires election officials to retain election records,” he wrote in the letters. “I am writing to remind you of that obligation.”
It is not clear how many states received the letter. But on Friday, election officials in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Washington and Wisconsin either confirmed to POLITICO they received a copy or posted it publicly.
Election officials who received the letter stressed they were already aware of record-keeping laws and were following them.
“We already comply with what the letter states,” said Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a Republican.
“We have and will continue to retain election records in accordance with state and federal laws,” said Stefanie Randolph, a spokesperson for Washington’s Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for information on how many states were in receipt of the letters. VoteBeat first reported on the latest round of threatening DOJ letters.
It’s the agency’s latest effort to pressure state election officials amid a larger campaign by the Trump administration to dictate how states run their elections.
Earlier this month, McCotter sent California election officials a letter giving the state 48 hours to review its voter rolls for alleged undocumented individuals the DOJ believed could be registered to vote.
The DOJ then sued California when the state refused to comply with its request, and a federal judge earlier this week denied the Trump administration’s demands that the state segregate those ballots.
Gary Fineout and Bill Mahoney contributed to this report.
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