Wednesday, August 20

Cleta Mitchell and a right-wing anti-immigration group are pushing a dangerous new idea: Requiring states to give the federal government DMV data and photos to make it harder for people to register to vote. Also in this week’s newsletter: DOJ escalates its hunt for states’ private voter data, right-wing activists will rally in D.C. to urge the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, and more.

As always, thanks for reading.

Matt Cohen, senior reporter

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A prominent election denier is pushing Congress to make states give DHS access to DMV data and photos

Cleta Mitchell, a prominent anti-voting lawyer who played a key role in President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election, is pushing a dangerous new idea: Congress should add a provision to the anti-voting SAVE Act requiring states to give the federal government access to DMV data and photos, to help it hunt for illegal voting.
The idea comes from the right-wing Immigration Accountability Project, which wants the Department of Homeland Security to use DMV data and photos in the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, to make it harder for people to register to vote in federal elections.

Far-right figures heap praise on Trump’s unconstitutional plan to end mail-in voting

After Trump announced his plan to issue an executive order as part of a “movement to get rid of” mail-in voting, far-right anti-voting figures cheered the move, which also would crack down on voting machines.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said of mail voting: “[E]lections have been stolen for decades with this practice that is ripe for fraud.”
Election denier and MyPillow mogul Mike Lindell, who has waged a campaign to hand-count ballots, called the proposed executive order a “HUGE step towards securing our elections and saving our country.”
Far-right activist and informal Trump advisor Laura Loomer praised Trump’s announcement on X and said “Election integrity matters!!”
They can heap as much praise on Trump as they want, it still won’t change the U.S. Constitution, which in no way grants the president the authority to regulate elections. But go off, I guess!

Tea Party Patriots will rally for the SAVE Act in D.C.

The SAVE Act passed the U.S. House in April, but the sweeping anti-voting bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Still, that isn’t stopping the far-right group Tea Party Patriots, who just announced the “Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour” to urge the Senate to pass the bill.
Throughout August, the bus tour will stop in more than a dozen states across the country collecting signatures for a petition urging the Senate to pass the restrictive bill by attaching it to must-pass legislation, to prevent a Democratic filibuster. One leading historian called the measure “the most extraordinary attack on voting rights in American history.”

An election denier facing felony charges is running for attorney general — again

If the name Matt DePerno sounds familiar to you, it should: The Michigan prosecutor is an avowed election denier who is facing felony charges for tampering with a voting machine in the 2020 election. And now he’s running for Michigan attorney general, for a second time.
DePerno reportedly filed paperwork to run for the post in the 2026 midterm elections; he previously ran and lost in 2022 to Michigan’s current attorney general, Dana Nessel, by about 8 points.
Last year, DePerno dropped out of the Michigan state Supreme Court race, about two months after announcing his bid.

Exclusive: DOJ escalates hunt for states’ private voter data, threatens legal action

In new letters to California, Illinois and Pennsylvania election officials, obtained by Democracy Docket, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is escalating its effort to pressure states to hand over sensitive voter data, including by threatening legal action.
The letter to California’s top election official, sent by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, threatened the state with legal action if it did not provide DOJ with full access to its voter registration list within seven days.
In an interview with One America News Network last week, Dhillon explained how the DOJ is weaponizing federal voting laws to “clean up” states’ voter rolls.
Dhillon said that "too many millions of Americans today don't feel confident, and in part they don't feel confident because we have sloppy voter rolls, we have sloppy maintenance requirements in these different states."