U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THREATENS STATES OVER VOTER ROLLS

The U.S. Justice Department sent letters to election officials in all 50 states warning of potential criminal charges if they do not provide voter-registration lists, according to The Guardian. The letters are part of a broader Trump administration effort to obtain state voter-roll data before the 2026 midterm elections.

The Guardian reported that the letters were sent despite recent court resistance to federal lawsuits seeking similar data. The administration has argued that access to voter rolls is needed to investigate possible illegal voting by non-citizens, while state officials and voting-rights groups have raised privacy, federalism and voter-intimidation concerns.

The letters warn election officials that failing to comply could expose them to prosecution, according to The Guardian. The move escalates a dispute that had already moved through federal courts, where several state-level challenges have tested how much authority the federal government has to demand detailed voter-registration records from states.

A separate Reuters report said the administration is also tying state access to some anti-terrorism preparedness grants to new election-security requirements. Reuters reported that states must verify voters' citizenship through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, move toward hand-marked paper ballots, manually audit at least 5% of ballots and reconcile voter participation with ballots cast to access part of the grant funding.

Reuters reported that the new conditions apply to FEMA's $1.1 billion homeland-security grant programs and affect access to 20% of state awards. The grants were originally designed for homeland-security and anti-terrorism preparation, not election administration, making the policy another front in the administration's attempt to shape state election procedures before the midterms.

Illinois officials said they were reviewing a Justice Department letter threatening prosecution over non-citizen voting, according to the Journal-Courier. The report said the Justice Department has also sued Illinois and other states for access to unredacted voter-registration data, including sensitive personal information, while Illinois officials and civil-rights groups have opposed the demands.

The administration's position is that the measures are necessary to safeguard election integrity. Opponents argue that non-citizen voting is rare, that states already maintain voter-roll systems, and that broad federal demands for personal voter data could create a national voter registry or chill lawful participation.

The immediate questions are whether states comply, whether more lawsuits follow and whether courts block the Justice Department from enforcing the letters or grant conditions. The dispute is likely to remain active through the midterm cycle.

Fact-check date: 11 July 2026
Article type: News
Sources: The Guardian, Reuters, Journal-Courier