The Trump administration has been trying to force states to turn over their voter rolls. Many have assumed that his effort relates to the midterm election and the president’s desperation to avoid becoming a lame duck president, but the real intention is much more long-term and sinister.
The Brennan Center reported on a confidential memorandum of understanding that the administration was sending to states that showed the administration wants the voter rolls so that it can pressure states to conduct a national voter purge.
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Via: The Brennan Center:
The agreement explains that the DOJ plans to conduct its own analysis of states’ voter files and then instruct the states to remove specific voters, which the federal government has never done before. This would turn the American system of election administration upside down. It is the states, not the federal government, that have the statutory authority — not to mention the expertise — to add and remove voters from the rolls. States also have procedures in place to guard against eligible voters being wrongly removed.
Yet the agreement provides that the DOJ will “test, analyze, and assess states’ [voter rolls]” and send each participating state a list of voters who must be removed within 45 days.
If the states followed through on this request, they would be violating several federal voter laws, so far only red states like Alaska and Texas have turned over their voter files while other red states like Tennessee and South Dakota have refused. All the blue states and swing states have refused.
The Trump administration has been suing states to try to get their voter rolls, and on Tuesday in Michigan, they were handed a big loss.