DOJ Sends Criminal-Prosecution Warning to All 50 States Over Noncitizen Voting, Gets Five-Day Deadline Response

DOJ Puts Every State on Notice

On July 7, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon — who leads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division — sent letters to top election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia warning them of potential criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting. States have five days to respond and explain how they plan to comply with federal voter eligibility laws.

The language is unambiguous. "Any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state's [statewide voter registration list] or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability," Dhillon wrote, according to copies reviewed by both CBS News and Democracy Docket.

The DOJ confirmed the scope to CBS News: letters went to all 50 states and D.C., requesting "voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections."

What the Letters Actually Say

The letters frame routine voter-list maintenance as a potential criminal matter. Dhillon's letter to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, obtained by Votebeat, states that election officials could be prosecuted for "aiding and abetting" federal violations, and that knowingly retaining noncitizens on the rolls, sending them ballots, and counting those ballots would constitute "procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots known to be false."

At least 14 states have been confirmed as recipients, including Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. According to Votebeat, several letters were sent to generic public email addresses on agency websites. One unnamed state election official told Votebeat, "I had to go look for it."

State Officials Are Not Impressed

None of the state election officials contacted by Votebeat expressed alarm. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, called DOJ's suggestion that Arizona was failing to maintain proper rolls "insulting."

"Arizona election officials have always worked to ensure that only eligible citizens are registered to vote, and we will continue following Arizona law — not directions that come from political rhetoric or intimidation," Fontes said, according to Democracy Docket.

Georgia Secretary of State spokesperson Robert Sinners told Votebeat the office "has led the nation in keeping American elections for American citizens only" through citizenship audits and improvements to the federal database under Secretary Brad Raffensperger.

Not all pushback came from Democrats. Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson, a Republican and her state's top election official, received the letter and called it "truly bizarre behavior" by a federal agency "that is supposed to be protecting civil rights."

The Case for the Letters

The strongest argument for the DOJ's action is straightforward: federal law does prohibit noncitizen voting, states are legally obligated to maintain clean rolls, and the federal government has standing to enforce that. If any state official were knowingly ignoring a noncitizen on a voter roll, that would be a federal crime. Sending a reminder letter costs nothing, and five days for a written compliance explanation is a modest ask. The administration would argue that the political blowback from officials proves nothing about whether the underlying concern is valid.

The Problem: Evidence

That argument runs into a factual wall. Noncitizen voting in federal elections is, by every documented measure, extremely rare. CBS News reported that directly. Votebeat noted that every state already has rules and procedures in place to prevent it, and that the letters are "unlikely to have an immediate practical effect" as a result.

Furthermore, this letter campaign follows the administration's months-long push to obtain unredacted voter rolls from states, a campaign that has produced 11 straight losses in federal district court. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit became the first appellate court to affirm one of those rulings, siding with Michigan. The DOJ has NOT won a single legal ruling in that effort.

President Trump has also signed an executive order this year that would create federal voter lists and bar the U.S. Postal Service from mailing ballots to anyone not on them. A federal judge blocked that order. Congress has not yet passed the SAVE America Act, which Trump has demanded and which would require in-person proof of citizenship to register.

What the DOJ Actually Wants the Data For

CBS News reported previously that DHS intends to use voter roll data collected through the DOJ's legal campaign for criminal and immigration enforcement, not just for election compliance screening. The Civil Rights Division has acknowledged that intent. That context matters when evaluating whether these letters are purely about ballot integrity or partly about building an immigration enforcement database.

The Open Question

No charges have been filed against any state election official. No investigation of any specific official has been announced. The five-day response deadline runs out by the weekend, and it is an open question whether any state that declines to respond — or responds with a flat rejection like Arizona's — will actually face follow-up legal action. The DOJ's record of zero courtroom wins on voter rolls suggests enforcement may be harder to execute than the letters imply.