Illinois ‘reviewing’ DOJ’s threat to prosecute state election officials over noncitizen voting
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Board of Elections said Wednesday it is “reviewing” a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice threatening criminal prosecution of any official who allows noncitizens to cast ballots and requesting information about how the state intends to prevent noncitizens voting.
The letter, dated Tuesday, July 7, was addressed to ISBE Executive Director Bernadette Matthews. It was similar to letters reportedly sent to top election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
It also appeared to be part of a multi-pronged effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal voting by noncitizens, something election experts say is exceedingly rare.
In addition to Tuesday’s letter threatening prosecution, DOJ is also suing Illinois and dozens of other states for access to the state’s complete, unredacted voter registration list, including sensitive information such as voters’ dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. The federal government has not been successful in any of those lawsuits thus far.
The Trump administration is also proposing new regulations that would prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from transmitting mail-in or absentee ballots to or from voters who are not included on a federally approved list of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote, though a federal judge has blocked that effort.
Tuesday’s letter, DOJ’s demands
The three-page letter sent Tuesday was signed by Harmeet Dhillon, who heads DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. It cites several federal statutes that make it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal, state or local elections, or to falsely represent themselves as citizens.
It concludes with a warning that “any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s (State Voter Registration List) or facilitates noncitizens in receiving ad casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.”
“The Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, would like to assist your state in complying with these federal laws,” the letter states. “Please respond to this letter within five days informing us of how the state of Illinois intends to ensure it is complying with these federal laws at both the state and local level and how the Department can assist in those efforts.”
President Donald Trump has long claimed, without evidence, that voting fraud — including fraudulent mail ballots and illegal votes by noncitizens — cost him the 2020 election. He has continued to make unfounded claims about noncitizen voting since winning back the presidency in 2024.
In August 2025, DOJ demanded Illinois election officials hand over the state’s complete, unredacted voter registration database, saying it needed that information to determine whether Illinois was complying with federal laws requiring states to maintain accurate, up-to-date voter rolls.
After Illinois refused to comply, citing state and federal privacy laws, DOJ sued the state in federal court in Springfield. It has also sued dozens of other states for refusing similar demands. So far, every court that has issued a decision in those cases has ruled against DOJ, but the Illinois case remains pending before Judge Colleen Lawless.
Several labor and civil rights organizations have intervened in the Illinois case supporting the state’s refusal to hand over the information and urging the court to dismiss the suit.
Attorneys for those groups have argued that DOJ’s stated reason for seeking the data — to enforce voter list maintenance requirements — is just a pretext. They say the real reason it wants the information is to develop a national registry of eligible voters, something they argue is beyond the federal government’s constitutional authority.
Federal voting list
In a March 31 executive order, Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile such lists for each state and transmit them to each state’s chief election official. Those lists are to include the names of state residents who are U.S. citizens and will be 18 years of age or older at the time of the 2026 election.
The order also directed the U.S. Postal Service to initiate new administrative rules to prohibit transmitting mail-in or absentee ballots from any individual who is not listed on the federal list of eligible voters.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of 22 other states and Washington, D.C., in filing a federal lawsuit challenging that order. And on June 25, a federal judge in Massachusetts struck down the major provisions of that order as unconstitutional beyond the authority of federal agencies.
DOJ has since filed notice that it intends to appeal that ruling. And in the meantime, USPS has not withdrawn its proposed rules concerning mail-in ballots.
On Thursday, July 2, the deadline for submitting public comment on those proposed rules, Gov. JB Pritzker joined a coalition of eight other Democratic governors in submitting written comments opposing the rule. Raoul was also part of a coalition of 24 state attorneys general opposing the rule.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.