What’s Breaking Through About the Justice Department’s Election Investigations
In his continuing effort to assert power over how the nation’s voting system operates, President Trump has directed the U.S. Department of Justice to probe state election offices.
Federal officials have demanded states share sensitive information about voters outside of normal security processes. The requests have included voters’ addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. The broad, highly unorthodox requests have concerned state officials, who worry that turning over that data could violate both state and federal law.
Federal officials have threatened state leaders with criminal charges if they refuse to cooperate with these potentially illegal requests. The list of states that have received these requests continues to grow.
The president has also suggested that officials should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his claims about the 2020 presidential election. Despite courts, experts, and officials confirming the 2020 presidential election was free, fair, and secure, Trump has continued to falsely claim the voting process was rigged against him and rife with fraud. Now, he wants to use the immense resources of the Justice Department to relitigate previous elections.
Here is what’s breaking through about the Justice Department’s outreach to state election offices:
- These far-reaching demands for voter information are unprecedented.
- Letters from the Department of Justice may seem like normal oversight. But in reality, the federal government is using its immense power to intimidate states into turning over protected data and changing their voting processes to fit the president’s whims.
- Voters’ sensitive information and access to the ballot are at risk.
- This interference from the federal government makes elections less secure by introducing new data vulnerabilities into the system and putting state and local election officials under additional strain.
- Elections are free, fair, and secure.
- This is a power grab from the president.
- The president’s only job in elections is to run for office. The Constitution gives states the power to run the voting process.
- It should concern all Americans when a president tries to change the way elections operate by himself to rig the process for his own benefit.
Here’s what’s breaking through about a potential 2020 election special prosecutor:
- The 2020 election was free, fair, and secure.
- Conspiracy theories about the 2020 election have already been heard by the courts and dismissed. People are ready to move on. We need leaders who look to the future.
- That’s what democracy is all about: We respect the results of an election, even if our candidate loses.
- The Department of Justice should act independently and follow the law.
- The Department of Justice is not the president’s law firm. It is supposed to be the people’s law firm. But it is now being used to pressure states and change the way elections are run.
- The president should focus on real issues.
- At a time when the United States faces serious challenges, the president is trying to settle old scores and use taxpayer dollars to re-investigate a claim that has been disproven over and over by courts and election experts. We need those resources to solve real issues.