Michigan officials are pushing back on a demand from the Trump administration that the state provide election materials — including ballots, ballot receipts and ballot envelopes — to prove election fraud did not occur in November 2024.
The Department of Justice, in a letter last week addressed to the Wayne County clerk, threatened a court order if the records weren’t produced in a timely fashion.
The document was signed by Harmeet K. Dhillon, the department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights. It cited previous voter fraud cases that have occurred in Wayne County, Michigan’s largest county by population, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which has been used repeatedly by the department as justification.
The move in Michigan reflects similar efforts in other states by the White House to seize election materials and discredit previous elections, using unsubstantiated claims of election fraud as their rationale.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration has already sued many states in its quest to obtain election data, including voter registration rolls in California, Pennsylvania and Michigan. And in January, the F.B.I. seized ballots and other election materials from Fulton County, Ga., which local officials have fought.
The administration has also issued subpoenas seeking voter records in Maricopa County, Ariz., and requested access to voting equipment used by counties in Missouri. Some states have acquiesced; others, like Michigan, have railed against the efforts.
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, responded to Ms. Dhillon on Friday with a letter that said the allegations of election fraud were “baseless” and did not justify the demand for election records.
The Justice Department cited a 2020 lawsuit against Wayne County and the city of Detroit that Michigan courts have dismissed and three separate cases of attempted fraud for which, Ms. Nessel said, the state had secured convictions. None of the cases the department made reference to occurred in the 2024 election, she noted.
“Michigan stands ready to defend against these claims and any attempt to interfere in Michigan’s elections,” Ms. Nessel said in her letter.
Democrats and many election officials across the country have said they fear the effort by the Trump administration to seek ballot and voter information is meant to sow distrust about the midterm elections. The push to influence how elections are run has also included calling for an end to mail-in voting and issuing an executive order seeking to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Michigan officials, including Ms. Nessel, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, released a statement on Sunday denouncing the Justice Department’s request and calling it an attempt by President Trump to interfere in state elections and “sabotage” the democratic process.
“This demand is a poorly disguised attempt to justify more doubt and misinformation about our elections as well as direct federal interference,” Ms. Whitmer said in the statement.
Sonia A. Rao reports on disability issues as a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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