Justice Department Warns 50 States
Federal prosecutors tell election officials everywhere that failing to keep election records is a crime, and press a revised bid to stop Alaska certifying a close Senate loss.
The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, March 2026.Illustration by The Good Times, based on a photo by APK / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in all 50 states warning that willfully failing to preserve election records is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. The letters, signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, the department's second-ranking official, remind officials that federal law requires them to keep ballots, voter registration forms and other records for 22 months after a federal election. They arrived days before the November 3 midterms, which will decide control of Congress. Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official under President Biden, said the letter "certainly looks like it's meant to intimidate rather than to inform." The department also filed a revised lawsuit to keep Alaska from certifying its Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses narrowly. It cites a New York Times report that allies of Democrat Mary Peltola recruited a retired teacher, Dan J. Sullivan Jr., to split the vote. Peltola's campaign denies any involvement. Under the Constitution, states run elections.
The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in all 50 states warning that willfully failing to preserve election records is a crime. "Such a failure is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine," the letters say.
What the letters say
The letters, signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, the department's second-highest-ranking official, cite a 1960 federal law that requires officials to keep records needed for voting in a federal election for 22 months. The letters are dated October 29. Those records include voter registration forms, pollbooks and mail-ballot materials as well as the ballots themselves. The letters also warn that it is unlawful to willfully steal, destroy, conceal or alter election records. They do not identify any particular violation.
Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official and White House voting rights adviser under President Biden, said he knew of no precedent for such a reminder going to every state. "It is not itself improper," he told Votebeat. "But it's super weird that the deputy sent this letter, and it's super weird he sent the letter to everybody."
The Alaska lawsuit
The department also filed an amended lawsuit seeking to block Alaska from certifying its Senate result if the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, loses narrowly to Democrat Mary Peltola. The revised complaint draws on a New York Times report that people connected to Peltola's campaign helped recruit a retired teacher, Dan J. Sullivan Jr., to run and draw votes from the senator. "They orchestrated his sham campaign for the purpose of misleading Alaskan voters and getting Peltola elected," the department's lawyers wrote. The department has also sent dozens of subpoenas and document preservation requests tied to the case.
Peltola's campaign says it had no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, ordered a state investigation into whether the recruitment broke any law. Alaska election officials say they have taken steps so voters can tell the two Sullivans apart on the ballot.
Levitt questioned the federal role. "I don't know what federal violations are implicated that DOJ would have jurisdiction over," he told the Associated Press. "Sure makes it seem like the point of the investigation is to become the story."
Under the Constitution, states run elections. Republicans hold 53 of the Senate's 100 seats.