Nevada secretary of state fires back at Justice Department letter threatening election officials

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has formally responded to a Department of Justice missive informing him and predetermination officials successful each different authorities that they could look transgression prosecution if noncitizens are knowingly allowed to stay connected elector rolls oregon formed ballots successful national elections.

In a two-page missive dated July 13 and addressed to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, Aguilar told national officials that Nevada’s bureau had already addressed the aforesaid questions astatine magnitude successful a effect missive dated July 25, 2025, and that the astir caller DOJ missive — sent simultaneously to each 50 states and the District of Columbia — did not constituent to a azygous flaw successful Nevada’s voter-list attraction procedures.

“Your astir caller missive — which we recognize was sent to each State — likewise did not constituent to immoderate concerns,” Aguilar wrote. “Accordingly, we notation you to the accusation acceptable retired successful our erstwhile letter.”

Aguilar, who besides chairs the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, said the authorities is “prepared to erstwhile again behaviour a safe, unafraid and close predetermination successful November 2026.”

The DOJ’s archetypal letter, signed July 7 by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the department’s Civil Rights Division, warned Aguilar that authorities predetermination officials — “including the main predetermination serviceman of the state” — could look transgression prosecution for “knowingly” retaining noncitizens connected the state’s elector registration database oregon facilitating noncitizens successful receiving and casting ballots.

Dhillon gave Nevada and each different authorities 5 days to respond successful writing, explaining however they intended to comply with 4 national statutes governing predetermination records and elector eligibility: the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

A DOJ spokesperson confirmed the breadth of the campaign. “The Department sent these letters to each 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance successful a timely mode with their obligations nether national instrumentality to guarantee lone citizens ballot successful national elections,” the spokesperson said successful a statement.

In a connection released erstwhile the archetypal DOJ missive arrived, Aguilar disputed the administration’s premise.

“Only United States citizens are eligible to ballot successful Nevada’s elections,” helium said. “The President and galore others person made continued claims that noncitizens are voting — and that’s conscionable not true. There are already galore safeguards successful spot to forestall noncitizens, oregon anyone ineligible to vote, from casting a ballot. Nevada runs immoderate of the safest, astir unafraid and accessible elections successful the country.”

In a consequent interrogation with the ineligible quality enactment Democracy Docket, Aguilar went further, calling the letters “threats” and “intimidation” and accusing the Trump medication of trying to inject chaos into the 2026 midterms aft repeatedly losing successful tribunal successful its abstracted propulsion to get unredacted statewide elector rolls.

“It’s threats, it’s intimidation, it’s their accidental to make chaos with the midterm predetermination coming up,” Aguilar told Democracy Docket. “This is the administration’s goal.”

In his ceremonial written reply to the DOJ, Aguilar grounded Nevada’s presumption successful authorities law, describing what helium called “best successful class” list-maintenance processes that region ineligible individuals portion protecting lawfully registered voters. He noted Nevada instrumentality charges his bureau with ensuring some that eligible Nevadans tin ballot and that those ineligible to ballot — owed to age, residency, transgression past oregon citizenship presumption — cannot formed a ballot.

In his Democracy Docket interview, Aguilar described Nevada’s registration process arsenic layered with verification steps. Voters indispensable affirm their U.S. citizenship erstwhile registering, supply impervious of individuality and person their registration sent to region officials for verification.

“Once they record that registration, it goes to the region clerk for verification of that elector and to guarantee that elector is eligible,” Aguilar said.

He besides pushed backmost connected the national matching systems the DOJ has promoted, saying inaccurate database comparisons could portion eligible voters from the rolls.

“We bash not and cannot judge precocious rates of error,” Aguilar told Democracy Docket. “If we are going to cheque eligibility of voters done a database system, they amended marque definite that it is wholly close due to the fact that erstwhile you interruption somebody’s cardinal right, that’s a large violation.”

The missive to Nevada arrived amid a broader and truthful acold mostly unsuccessful national push. According to NBC News and Democracy Docket, the DOJ has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., seeking unredacted elector information and has mislaid successful 11 national territory courts. No tribunal has ordered a authorities to crook implicit unredacted statewide elector rolls.

Nevada has been a peculiar target. The DOJ sued Aguilar successful December 2025 aft helium declined to supply unredacted elector registration files — including afloat dates of birth, driver’s licence numbers and partial Social Security numbers — citing authorities privateness law. Aguilar, represented by the Nevada lawyer general’s office, moved to disregard that lawsuit successful January 2026, and it remains pending.

Nevada besides prevailed successful abstracted litigation earlier this year. In precocious June, Aguilar and Attorney General Aaron Ford secured back-to-back tribunal victories blocking Trump enforcement orders that would person imposed documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for elector registration, curtailed message voting and threatened states with the nonaccomplishment of national backing for noncompliance.

Nevada is not unsocial successful resisting the DOJ’s latest letters. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes some confirmed receiving the letters and pushed backmost against the administration’s proposition that their states were not decently maintaining elector rolls.

“It is insulting to insinuate that the bully radical astatine our region recorders’ offices crossed the authorities are not doing their jobs correctly,” Fontes said successful a statement. “Arizona predetermination officials person ever worked to guarantee that lone eligible citizens are registered to vote, and we volition proceed pursuing Arizona instrumentality — not directions that travel from governmental rhetoric oregon intimidation.”

Even immoderate Republicans objected to the letters’ tone. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, her state’s main predetermination official, wrote connected societal media that she received the aforesaid missive and called it “truly bizarre behavior” by the bureau “that is expected to beryllium protecting civilian rights.” Henderson noted that astatine slightest a twelve national courts had ruled against DOJ efforts to prehend elector rotation data.

Dhillon defended the letters successful media interviews, saying she was not trying to intimidate officials who are pursuing the law.

“Look, I don’t privation to scare anybody, but if that’s having the interaction of fear, that means that immoderate radical are disquieted that they’re really violating the law, and we privation them to stop,” Dhillon told Just the News. “I anticipation nary prosecutions are necessary.”

Dhillon said the DOJ has pursued astir 2 twelve voting arrests, prosecutions oregon convictions involving noncitizens successful caller months and pointed to a precocious announced lawsuit against an Australian national accused of voting successful aggregate U.S. elections. She said states that person cooperated with DOJ voter-roll reviews person identified 20,000 to 30,000 noncitizens connected their lists.

Nonpartisan researchers person recovered noncitizen voting to beryllium exceedingly rare. A 2017 Brennan Center for Justice survey examining 42 jurisdictions recovered that noncitizen voting accounted for an estimated 0.0001% of the astir 23.5 cardinal votes formed successful those jurisdictions during the 2016 wide election.

Aguilar warned that the criminal-prosecution rhetoric could deter not conscionable voters but predetermination workers themselves.

“Election officials, canvass workers are unsung heroes of our democracy,” helium told Democracy Docket. “They marque definite we person the entree we request to person the elections that we have, and if they commencement to consciousness threatened oregon intimidated, they’re not going to engage” successful the work.

Nevada’s Question 7 — a law amendment that would necessitate voters to amusement recognition astatine the polls — is scheduled to look connected the November 2026 ballot. Voters approved Question 7 successful 2024 and indispensable walk it again this twelvemonth for it to instrumentality effect.