Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, told Newsmax that there is a fight brewing over some states against allowing DOJ inspectors to review voter rolls.
Appearing on "Bianca Across the Nation" on Tuesday, Dhillon said, "We've made this argument. It's very clear under the 1960 Civil Rights Act that the attorney general has the right to review and inspect these records."
The DOJ announced in late February that it had filed lawsuits against five additional states for failing to produce voter registration lists.
The DOJ's Civil Rights Division added Kentucky, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia in the latest wave of legal action as the Trump administration continues its nationwide push for election integrity.
All but New Jersey supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, even though critics of the review claim the effort targets only Democrat-led states.
Dhillon said the problem is "bipartisan."
"States that are led by Democrats and Republicans alike have been lax in cleaning up their voter rolls," she said.
"It's also been difficult in the past due to various regulations for states to be able to get the help from the federal government. We've lifted those restrictions," she added.
Dhillon said being able to help states work through their voter roll cleanup process has helped in some cases.
But some states, she said, are digging in for a fight.
"We definitely want to use tools and have accurate data to make sure that only citizens are on our voter rolls, that they're only on our voter rolls in the United States once and that rolls are not being padded and infected, particularly in this era now of a widespread mail balloting with people who are dead, people who have moved, people who have no business voting in an election."
The NAACP has joined a court fight in New Jersey against the DOJ's request to review voter rolls.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson was quoted by the group as saying, "The communities at risk already face barriers to civic participation, and we will not stand by as voting rights are jeopardized by blatant federal overreach."
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Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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