Over the past couple of months I’ve been tracking the DOJ’s unprecedented effort to obtain sensitive voting data — including access to voter rolls — from states across the country.

Wednesday, August 13

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As DOJ continues its hunt to obtain private voter data, states are slowly responding to the requests. Some have forked over the data, which was already publicly available. While others told DOJ to kiss off. Also in this week’s newsletter: PILF joins the hunt to access voter rolls, election deniers are targeting the judge that sentenced Tina Peters and more.

As always, thanks for reading.

Matt Cohen, senior reporter



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These states responded to DOJ’s requests for private voter data

- Over the past couple of months I’ve been tracking the DOJ’s unprecedented effort to obtain sensitive voting data — including access to voter rolls — from states across the country. In last week’s newsletter, I broke down the complicated answer to the question of whether DOJ has a legal right to access the voting data it’s demanding from states (Reminder: it varies ([link removed] ) by state!)

- But the states have been slow to respond to DOJ’s unusual requests — and for the states that have, the responses have been all over the place. A few states — like Alaska, Colorado and Florida — have granted DOJ access to their state voter rolls, since that data is public per state law.

- Other states — like Maine, Minnesota, Oregon and New Hampshire — have told DOJ to kiss off. (In the case of Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) specifically told ([link removed] ) DOJ to “go jump in the Gulf of Maine.”)

- Some states have responded to DOJ’s requests in part, providing them with answers to the questions they are only required to by law, but not forking over private voter data that the department doesn’t have a right to access. Read more about it here ([link removed] ) .

The Public Interest Legal Foundation is eyeing these states’ voter rolls… and involving DOJ

- Speaking of state voter rolls… DOJ isn’t the only group trying to gain access to them. The anti-voting group the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) recently sent ([link removed] ) letters to state election officials in Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania alleging mass inaccuracies on their voter rolls.

- In each letter, PILF stressed the “findings are not intended to be exhaustive,” but requested a meeting with state officials to discuss its findings. (Democracy Docket could not independently verify the accuracy of PILF’s findings.)

- There’s a twist though: For some reason, PILF copied the DOJ on each letter, indicating that they’re at least hoping to assist the department on some level in its quest to access the states’ voter roll data. It’s not totally surprising — Maureen Riordan, the head of DOJ’s voting section, came to the department from PILF.

Election deniers are now targeting the judge that sentenced Colorado GOP clerk Tina Peters

- Ever since Tina Peters, the conspiracy theorist former GOP local election clerk in Colorado, was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a voting system data breach, in a failed attempt to find voter fraud, she’s become something of a MAGA folk hero ([link removed] ) in the election denier community. Now, that community is targeting the judge that sentenced her.

- On X, Texas election conspiracy theorist Lori Gallagher encouraged her large MAGA following to file ethics complaints en masse against Colorado Judge Matthew Barrett, posting the template and instructions for her followers to file the complaint. “Barrett's 2022 retention election was RUN ON THE SAME DOMINION SYSTEMS Peters exposed as hackable and corrupt,” Gallagher falsely stated ([link removed] ) on X. “His job literally depends on those systems working properly.”

- President Donald Trump has repeatedly ordered ([link removed] ) DOJ to “secure the release” of Peters, but Peters was convicted on state charges, where DOJ does not have authority to secure her release.

Cleta Mitchell’s group praises Georgia judge for ordering election deniers onto Fulton County Board of Elections

- Last week I reported ([link removed] ) on an order from a Georgia judge overriding the Fulton County Board of Commissioners’ 5-2 vote in May rejecting election deniers Julie Adams and Jason Frazier from the county’s board of elections.

- The judge’s order earned ([link removed] ) a round of applause from the Election Integrity Network (EIN), the group founded by Cleta Mitchell, the prominent anti-voting lawyer (and perennial subject of this newsletter) who played a pivotal role in Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election.

- The ordeal isn’t over: The Fulton County Republican Party asked ([link removed] ) the court to find the Board of Commissioners in contempt for their “willful refusal” to comply with the August 4 order to appoint Adams and Frazier. A hearing will be held on August 15.

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