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Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Nevada voter data, state’s elections chief says

<i>David Becker/Getty Images via CNN Newsource</i><br/>Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Las Vegas on November 05
David Becker/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Las Vegas on November 05

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department has issued several subpoenas to Nevada’s secretary of state seeking voter information, marking another effort by the Trump administration to insert the federal government more directly into the administration of elections.

The office of Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, which oversees elections in the state, said Friday it received “seven voter-related DOJ subpoenas from the FBI over the last three months.”

Aguilar, a Democrat, slammed the DOJ’s move to seek the information, saying in a statement that the administration is overwhelming states ahead of the midterms.

“The federal administration is inundating election offices with investigations and questions ahead of the election, and making sweeping claims of election fraud to the public before any investigation is done,” Aguilar said. “We will continue standing up for Nevada voters and remain focused on running a safe, secure and transparent election this fall.”

It is unclear what information the Justice Department is seeking in the subpoenas. CNN has reached out to the DOJ and Aguilar’s office for more information.

The subpoenas follow a slew of baseless allegations of voter fraud from the Trump administration and subsequent crackdown efforts.

President Donald Trump still claims without evidence that the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, was rigged, and the DOJ earlier this year searched the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, which has long been at the centerpiece of Trump’s claims.

The Department of Homeland Security this week began a surge in its efforts to investigate voter fraud in nine states, including Nevada. The department previously pushed states to share their voter rolls for audit and has vowed to withhold grant funding from those that refuse to adopt a broad set of election reforms.

The administration on Thursday also asked the Supreme Court to give the US Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, setting up a showdown at the high court less than two months before the midterms.

Earlier this summer, DHS announced that an audit of public voter rolls had identified more than 250,000 registered noncitizens in four states, including 16,000 in Nevada.

But behind closed doors, the department acknowledged to the state’s top election officials that it had “confirmed” just 185 of them, according to internal records reviewed by CNN. Another 6,200 were labeled “higher confidence matches” — but still required further vetting.

The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Priscilla Alvarez, Tierney Sneed, Gabe Cohen, Hannah Rabinowitz and Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.

Article Topic Follows: CNN - US Politics

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