'Reeks of voter suppression': Internet slams DOJ demand for state voter list

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

July 9, 2025 10:03PM ET


President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is demanding that Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, turn over his state's voter rolls, according to a letter obtained by Democracy Docket.

The letter cites the Help America Vote Act, a law that was passed in 2002 that creates minimum standards for election administration.

It says Minnesota has 30 days to turn over information about processes like voter registration, election security, and its vote-by-mail system. It was written by Maureen Riordan, acting chief for the Voting Section of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. Similar demands have been issued to states like Colorado and Pennsylvania. DOJ's demand letter caused a storm on social media.

"The DOJ swooping into Minnesota’s voter rolls under the guise of HAVA oversight reeks of voter suppression," one commentator posted on X. "Minnesota’s elections are a fortress of fairness; instead of auditing others, maybe the DOJ should clean up its own house. Minnesota’s spotless record shows this is likely a power grab."

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/doj-2673043467/

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Link to Democracy Docket ANNOUNCEMENT - DOJ Demands Access to Minnesota’s Voter Rolls

Link to MN LETTER (PDF) - https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/State-of-Minnesota.pdf

Link to VOTEBEAT PENNSYLVANIA ANNOUNCEMENT - U.S. Justice Department presses Pennsylvania for answers on how it manages voter rolls

Link to PA LETTER (PDF) - https://www.votebeat.org/pennsylvania/2025/07/09/justice-department-civil-rights-hava-letter-election-law/

[JustAnotherGen]

1. By what authority?

There is no VRA in place. The DOJ has nothing to work off of.

[Diraven]

2. They can't figure out why Minnesota

Is the one Midwestern state that always votes for Democrats. They intend to "fix" that one way or another.

[Bayard]

3. I am shocked that this admin still has a Civil Rights division

Maybe just to use as a cudgel to interfere with states rights to run their own elections.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. They keep it for Plausible Deniability

"Whadja mean? See, We have a Civil Rights division! We believe in civil rights!" ... {whispered: for white folk like us}

The usage you name is also likely too. . . nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. No "maybe" about it; they've said they are moving in the opposite direction from before

DOJ Leader Calls for Civil Rights ‘Paradigm Shift’ After Exodus

Harmeet Dhillon says civil rights division moving in ‘opposite direction’
Hundreds of career lawyers resigned, reassigned

Dhillon, a San Francisco lawyer who previously represented Trump in his personal capacity, is known for arguing conservative positions in cases involving religious liberty, treatment for transgender minors, and censorship on college campuses

She has overseen a stark realignment of division priorities, moving to focus its resources toward conservative issues, including anti-Christian bias and gun rights. Established in 1957 during the civil rights movement, the division has historically enforced anti-discrimination laws in voting, education, housing, and other areas.
...
Closing out the conservative legal association’s all-day conference on executive branch review, Dhillon called for a “paradigm shift” at the unit and described a “generational opportunity for a reformation within civil rights.”

She outlined her priorities for the division as fighting against racial quotas, blocking transgender women from participating in women’s sports teams, and protecting Jewish students on college campuses, among other missions, which align with new mission statements that were recently sent to the division’s sections.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-leader-calls-for-civil-rights-paradigm-shift-after-exodus

Trump ally pushes DoJ unit to shift civil rights focus, new messages show

The justice department’s civil rights division is shifting its focus away from its longstanding work protecting the rights of marginalized groups and will instead pivot towards Donald Trump’s priorities including hunting for noncitizen voters and protecting white people from discrimination, according to new internal mission statements seen by the Guardian.

The new priorities were sent to several sections of the civil rights division this week by Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump ally who was confirmed a little more than two weeks ago to lead the division. Several of them give only glancing mention to the statutes and kinds of discrimination that have long been the focus of the division, which dates back to the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Several of the mission statements point to Trump’s executive orders as priorities for the section.

The mission statement for the voting section, for example, barely mentions the Voting Rights Act and instead says the section will focus on preventing voter fraud – which is exceedingly rare – and helping states find noncitizens on their voter rolls (noncitizen voting is also exceedingly rare). The guidance for the Housing and Civil Enforcement section does not make a single mention of the Fair Housing Act, the landmark 1968 civil rights law that has long been a central part of the department’s work.

“It’s absolutely astonishing,” said Sasha Samberg-Champion, a former appellate lawyer in the justice department’s civil rights division. “This reflects the complete abdication of the core responsibilities of each of these sections.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/18/justice-department-civil-rights-division-trump

Noncitizen voting will of course, be punished by banishment, if suspected (and I wouldn't be surprised if they try that on actual citizens with similar names to noncitizens - searches of voter rolls by "voter fraud" obsessives are typically mostly about mistaken identity).

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. This is the goobermint that maga / tea party / John Birchers warned everybody against for decades. . . . . . nt

[Jose Garcia]

7. Isn't all of this information already public records?

[BumRushDaShow]

9. And a lof of the procdures are codified in state law and regulations

all of which are available on a state's website.

It's a harassment strategy.

[Karasu]

8. Gee. What a coincidence that they're starting on this now.

[Martin68]

10. Internet "slams" DOJ demand? What a laugh! The all-powerful internet?