Attorney General Pam Bondi is using the killing of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement as an opportunity to again demand access to Minnesota’s voter rolls — all part of the Justice Department’s months-long crusade to try to compel states to hand over sensitive voter information.
In response to Bondi’s latest request for access to the state’s voter rolls, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon simply said “no,” describing the attempt to tie the voter data request to an end to “the chaos” in Minnesota as “an apparent ransom to pay for our state’s peace and security.”
In the letter to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz only hours after Pretti was killed on Saturday by federal immigration officers, Bondi outlined ways in which Walz should “restore the rule of law” in Minnesota — somehow connecting the state’s refusal to turn over voter information to the DOJ to the recent killings of U.S. citizens protesting or observing federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
“You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota. Fortunately, there are common sense solutions to these problems that I hope we can accomplish together,” Bondi wrote.
Bondi went on to outline ways to end “the chaos,” one of them being to “allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1960.”
For months now, the Justice Department has been demanding sensitive voter information from 44 states across the country. Although the DOJ is not entitled to this information — which includes information like voters’ driver licenses, social security numbers, and addresses — the DOJ is suing states who refuse to comply.
It remains unclear why exactly the DOJ wants this data from states. But as experts have previously explained to TPM, the DOJ’s demand for voter information appears to be, in part, an effort to sow seeds of doubt into the country’s election system.
“Bondi’s pressuring of Minnesota to hand over sensitive and protected voter data, after two federal courts have ruled the DOJ has no right to that data, raises serious questions about the supposed justifications both for the data demands, and for militarized deployment of feds in the state,” David Becker, a former DOJ lawyer and the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, told TPM.
So far, the DOJ has sued 24 states, including Minnesota, who have not complied with this request. And in this month alone, two different federal courts have sided against the DOJ on this issue, including a tentative decision in Oregon and a ruling in California.
Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state, immediately shut down Bondi’s demands for the data.
“Her letter is an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law. This comes after repeated and failed attempts by the DOJ to pressure my office into providing the same data,” he said.
And in a statement in response to Bondi’s letter, DNC Chair Ken Martin, described Bondi’s letter as an attempt “to extort the state into handing over its voter rolls as part of an ongoing campaign to undermine local elections and build a national database for Trump’s political revenge and retribution.”
“The Trump administration thinks it can threaten and intimidate through violence and coercion, but they’re wrong. The DNC will stand with local elected officials and fight like hell, including in the courts, to protect our democracy and the rights of voters in Minnesota and across the country,” Martin added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is using the killing of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement as an opportunity to again demand access to Minnesota’s voter rolls — all part of the Justice Department’s months-long crusade to try to compel states to hand over sensitive voter information.
In response to Bondi’s latest request for access to the state’s voter rolls, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon simply said “no,” describing the attempt to tie the voter data request to an end to “the chaos” in Minnesota as “an apparent ransom to pay for our state’s peace and security.”
In the letter to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz only hours after Pretti was killed on Saturday by federal immigration officers, Bondi outlined ways in which Walz should “restore the rule of law” in Minnesota — somehow connecting the state’s refusal to turn over voter information to the DOJ to the recent killings of U.S. citizens protesting or observing federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
“You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota. Fortunately, there are common sense solutions to these problems that I hope we can accomplish together,” Bondi wrote.
Bondi went on to outline ways to end “the chaos,” one of them being to “allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1960.”
For months now, the Justice Department has been demanding sensitive voter information from 44 states across the country. Although the DOJ is not entitled to this information — which includes information like voters’ driver licenses, social security numbers, and addresses — the DOJ is suing states who refuse to comply.
It remains unclear why exactly the DOJ wants this data from states. But as experts have previously explained to TPM, the DOJ’s demand for voter information appears to be, in part, an effort to sow seeds of doubt into the country’s election system.
“Bondi’s pressuring of Minnesota to hand over sensitive and protected voter data, after two federal courts have ruled the DOJ has no right to that data, raises serious questions about the supposed justifications both for the data demands, and for militarized deployment of feds in the state,” David Becker, a former DOJ lawyer and the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, told TPM.
So far, the DOJ has sued 24 states, including Minnesota, who have not complied with this request. And in this month alone, two different federal courts have sided against the DOJ on this issue, including a tentative decision in Oregon and a ruling in California.
Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state, immediately shut down Bondi’s demands for the data.
“Her letter is an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law. This comes after repeated and failed attempts by the DOJ to pressure my office into providing the same data,” he said.
And in a statement in response to Bondi’s letter, DNC Chair Ken Martin, described Bondi’s letter as an attempt “to extort the state into handing over its voter rolls as part of an ongoing campaign to undermine local elections and build a national database for Trump’s political revenge and retribution.”
“The Trump administration thinks it can threaten and intimidate through violence and coercion, but they’re wrong. The DNC will stand with local elected officials and fight like hell, including in the courts, to protect our democracy and the rights of voters in Minnesota and across the country,” Martin added.
