AP
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The US Department of Justice has requested access to voting equipment used in the 2020 election in two Missouri counties in what seems to be a wide-ranging effort to extra carefully monitor election processes across the nation.
A DOJ official in August contacted the county clerks and requested for access to their Dominion Voting Systems equipment, in accordance to a memo from the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities that was shared Wednesday with The Associated Press.
Jasper County Clerk Charlie Davis declined, saying he now not had the equipment. The memo stated McDonald County Clerk Jessica Cole had the equipment, but additionally declined. In a press release quoted in the memo, Cole stated state and federal legislation prohibits election officers from giving unauthorized access to election equipment.
The unconventional requests to a state President Donald Trump has gained thrice, first reported by the Missouri Independent, sign how the DOJ throughout Trump’s second time period has sought a more in-depth watch over how states run their elections. The president himself has sought broad authority over elections in the runup to the 2026 midterms that the Constitution doesn’t give him.
Election consultants have stated the Justice Department is stretching past its authorized authority with its outreach in Missouri and its separate calls for for state voter registration lists in practically two dozen states.
Colorado-based Dominion has been a frequent goal of conspiracy theorists who’ve championed Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him and who’ve asserted, with out proof, that its equipment manipulated votes. It has fought again in opposition to these claims by submitting defamation lawsuits which have resulted in huge settlements: The conservative outlet Newsmax just lately agreed to pay $67 million, and in 2023 Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million, after the choose overseeing the case stated it was “CRYSTAL clear” that not one of the allegations in opposition to the corporate had been true.
The DOJ has no authority over voting machines nor does it have the experience or capability to overview the equipment, stated David Becker, a former Justice Department legal professional who runs the Center for Election Innovation and Research, throughout a media briefing Wednesday.
The Justice Department didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, and it was not clear whether or not the Missouri outreach had something to do with Trump’s name in June for the division to appoint a special prosecutor to examine the 2020 election. He has refused to settle for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden that 12 months, regardless of shedding dozens of court challenges, audits, recounts and evaluations that affirmed the outcomes in the battleground states, and his personal legal professional basic saying there was no proof of widespread fraud.
In Missouri, voting equipment is permitted by the secretary of state and meets strict state and federal requirements, stated Sherry Parks, president of the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities. Parks stated native election officers are answerable for custody, upkeep, preparation, testing and storage of the equipment. They will not be allowed to let unauthorized events access or tamper with the machines.
According to the memo, Missouri’s former secretary of state, Republican Jay Ashcroft, contacted the Jasper County clerk final week and requested him to adjust to the DOJ’s request. Ashcroft recommended the clerk ought to give DOJ a chunk of equipment, and Ashcroft would exchange that equipment with a brand new merchandise, the memo stated. The clerk instructed Ashcroft he couldn’t comply as a result of he now not had the voting equipment.
Ashcroft couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. The memo stated Ashcroft’s request adopted the preliminary outreach to the 2 clerks by Mac Warner, the previous Republican secretary of state in West Virginia who now works in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
The request to access Dominion voting equipment follows a DOJ effort to get copies of voter registration lists from state election directors in not less than 23 states, the AP has discovered.
In some states which have declined or demurred on these requests, citing their very own state legal guidelines or the DOJ’s failure to fulfill Privacy Act obligations, the company has adopted up by sending extra letters demanding the voter information on brief deadlines.
In Minnesota and California, DOJ officers threatened to sue for the voter lists.
The unusually expansive outreach has raised alarm amongst some election officers as a result of states have the constitutional authority to run elections and federal legislation protects the sharing of particular person information with the federal government.
Elsewhere in the nation, different elements of the federal authorities additionally seem to be searching for extra involvement in election processes.
In Colorado, a guide who stated he was calling on behalf of the White House contacted 10 Republican county clerks in July, in accordance to Matt Crane, government director of the Colorado County Clerks Association.
The guide instructed not less than two of the clerks that he needed individuals in the federal authorities to examine their voting programs, an motion that may be against the law in Colorado with out correct authorization, in accordance to Crane. A 3rd clerk obtained a follow-up name from a unique individual with an analogous request, claiming to be calling on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security.
“They were putting clerks in a position to where they could be brought up on charges,” Crane stated. “That was very concerning.”