Department of Justice to Prioritize Voting Matters and Trump's Election Directive, Corresponding Memo Reveals
Rewritten Article:
Here's a lowdown on the transformation taking place within the Justice Department's unit responsible for voting rights compliance. Instead of maintaining the status quo or working diligently to protect people's voting rights, they've decided to switch gears and focus on investigating so-called voter fraud and preventing elections from being tainted by suspicion.
The updated mission statement for their voting unit subtly references the Voting Rights Act, but it's striking how it doesn't mention the usual responsibilities of protecting voters' right to vote and ensuring that maps or lines don't segregate voters based on race. Instead, they're recasting their purpose around conspiracy theories pushed by Trump supporters to explain his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump's attorney general at the time, William Barr, had stated that there was no credible evidence of widespread fraud in that election. Various recounts and audits carried out in the battleground states contesting the election results, even ones led by Republicans, confirmed Biden's win and found that the election was conducted fairly. Despite repeated courtroom bouts to challenge the election results, Trump and his supporters lost their cases.
But with Trump back in the driver's seat, the attorney general in charge is Pam Bondi, who has thrown her support behind Trump's endeavor to undo his 2020 loss. Trump chose Harmeet Dhillon, a loyal Republican Party attorney, to oversee the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, in which the voting unit is housed.
Stacey Young, a long-standing Department of Justice employee with 18 years of service who left their division shortly after Trump took office, expresses concern, stating that the division's purpose is not to propagate the politically convenient fiction that voting fraud is widespread.
The department declined to comment on the matter.
Trump has already demonstrated an interest in using the Justice Department to investigate those who stood up for the 2020 election.
The mission statement for the voting unit declares, "Our mission is to ensure free, fair, and honest elections devoid of fraud, errors, or suspicion." It further indicates that they will aggressively enforce Trump's executive order seeking to restructure how elections are conducted. Parts of the order have been halted in the courts.
The executive order Trump signed late last month calls for individuals to provide verification of their U.S. citizenship with each registration, would demand that all mail ballots be received on Election Day, which contradicts the laws of 18 states, and directs an independent federal agency, the Election Assistance Commission, to modify its voting machine guidelines.
Legal analysts say that much of this order is unconstitutional because only states and, for federal contests, Congress, have the authority to determine election procedures. The Constitution does not grant the president the power to establish election rules.
The new mission statement for the Civil Rights Division also states that the voting unit will concentrate on ensuring that "only American citizens vote in U.S. federal elections." It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote. Individuals are expected to verify their U.S. citizenship when they register, and attempts by noncitizens to vote can lead to felony charges and deportation.
Repeated investigations have uncovered only a tiny proportion of noncitizens casting votes, usually by mistake, among the hundreds of millions of votes cast in recent elections. A proof-of-citizenship requirement enacted in Kansas over a decade ago obstructed the registration of 31,000 eligible U.S. citizens before it was overturned by the courts.
Still, Republicans, including Trump, continue to claim that there must be a substantial number of noncitizens casting votes. They are advocating for stricter election laws to root out these supposed voter infiltrators.
Notably, the brief statement on the voting rights section mentions addressing "fraud" twice, as well as investigating other forms of dishonest conduct. While the Department of Justice does probe and prosecute voting fraud, the voting section is a civil unit that doesn't conduct criminal investigations.
Now, however, they're set to protect "the right of American citizens to have their votes accurately counted and accounted for," according to the statement. It's unclear what they're referring to, as there have been no widespread cases of votes being counted improperly.
Justin Levitt, who served as President Joe Biden's senior policy advisor for democracy and voting rights, notes that, because the voting rights section doesn't pursue prosecutions, its power is limited by specifics of civil rights laws and what judges will approve.
"For the civil section of the Civil Rights Division, courts need to approve what they're selling," he points out.
- The Justice Department's voting rights compliance unit has shifted focus from protecting people's voting rights to investigating voter fraud.
- The updated mission statement of the unit subtly references the Voting Rights Act but avoids mentioning the usual responsibilities of protecting voters' rights.
- The department's focus on voter fraud seems to be centred around conspiracy theories pushed by Trump supporters.
- Trump's attorney general at the time, William Barr, stated there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
- Various recounts and audits in battleground states, even conducted by Republicans, confirmed Biden's win and found the election was conducted fairly.
- Under Trump's leadership, the Department of Justice may be used to investigate those who supported the 2020 election results.
- The updated mission statement for the department's voting unit declares that it will enforce an executive order seeking to restructure election procedures, parts of which have been halted in the courts.
- The new executive order calls for individuals to provide verification of their U.S. citizenship with each registration, a measure that may be unconstitutional as only states and Congress have the authority to determine election procedures.
- Despite Republicans' claims, investigations have shown that only a tiny proportion of noncitizens have cast votes in recent elections, usually by mistake.
