DOJ makes nationwide push to clean voter rolls, purging duplicates and noncitizens

The Trump Justice Department has launched a nationwide effort to clean up voter rolls ahead of the 2026 elections, pushing states to purge duplicate and outdated registrations and catch any non-citizens or illegal aliens who slipped into a position to vote, officials told Just the News on Saturday.

Notifications have gone out to several states and localities that DOJ's Civil Rights Division has been concerned that states aren't complying with federal laws, including California, Wisconsin, Utah and New Hampshire. 

"Unlike the previous administration, at President Trump’s DOJ, we will fight to have fair and secure elections - and that begins with making our voter rolls accurate," Attorney General Pam Bondi told Just the News.

The integrity of voter rolls has been a major focus of conservative election integrity lawyers as a growing number of states report they have found small numbers of non-citizens slipping onto their rolls. For instance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last month announced a probe into over 100 potential noncitizens who cast over 200 ballots in prior elections.

In addition, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel recently declassified documents showing the bureau failed to fully investigate intelligence that Communist China sought to hijack the 2020 presidential election with a potential mail-in ballot scheme to assist then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

The new DOJ effort, officials said, will focus on pressuring states with poor voter roll hygiene to comply with existing law and ==d remove outdated, duplicated and non-citizen registrations. It is being led by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. 

“I can’t comment on the specifics of any ongoing investigations, but I am committed to making it harder to cheat and easier to vote," Dhillon told Just the News on Saturday. "Clean voter rolls will help achieve that goal.”

Just the News reported in June that Dhillon was moving to punish Wisconsin for allegedly failing to comply with federal voting integrity laws, taking the first step to withhold future federal funds for administering elections.

She notified the Wisconsin Election Commission that it was not in compliance with the Helping Americans Vote Act (HAVA), specifically for failing to set up a system to field and resolve voter complaints about election integrity.

"Quite surprisingly, we have learned that the Wisconsin Elections Commission has refused to provide any administrative complaint process or hearing regarding HAVA complaints against the Commission," Dhillon wrote. "Rather, Wisconsin has decided to rely on a 2022 state court case opining that the Commission cannot police itself..

"These very actions by the Commission have left complainants alleging HAVA violations by the Commission without any recourse," she added. "...With no opportunity or means to appeal, complainants are left stranded with their grievances."

DOJ told state election regulators they must come into immediate compliance and that the agency was taking the first step to pull future federal election assistance funds.

Similarly, DOJ recently sent a demand to Orange County, Calif., seeking thr identities of any illegal aliens who made it on voter rolls. The county has resisted and DOJ has now sued to force compliance.