Virginia Attorney General alleges DHS violated state election laws

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has alleged that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may have violated state election laws following a whistleblower report. In a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Jones demanded written confirmation regarding whether federal employees were directed to access Virginia voter information without permission from the individuals involved.

Jones noted that the Virginia Election Code prohibits the disclosure of protected voter information to the federal government without a court order. State voter lookup tools are strictly limited to individuals who attest, under penalty of law, that they are accessing their own records.

The whistleblower report, released by Democratic Senate leaders, includes transcripts suggesting that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staffers underwent training in late August to use state voter registration systems to identify “unlawful voters.” The report claims agents were tasked with reviewing approximately 40 individuals per day to create federal records of noncitizen voters. While the Trump administration has expressed concerns regarding noncitizen voting fraud, research indicates such instances are extremely rare.