Blanche defends mail ballot changes, says election practices in multiple states are being probed
Summary
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended new rules meant to tighten mail-in voting before the midterm elections, saying the Justice Department is looking into election practices in many states. Courts have blocked these rules for now, and the Justice Department is also investigating cases of illegal voting by non-citizens.Key Facts
- The Trump administration introduced new mail voting rules requiring states to provide voter lists to the Postal Service and use special ballot envelopes with barcodes.
- These rules are currently blocked by court orders after federal judges and the Supreme Court kept them from being enforced in upcoming elections.
- Attorney General Blanche said mail voting carries a higher risk of fraud than in-person voting with ID but did not provide specific evidence, calling it "common sense."
- Studies show mail ballot fraud is very rare, with one study finding only 14 suspicious ballots out of 4.5 million votes in Washington state.
- The Justice Department is investigating election practices in many states and has told 29 states and D.C. to save their 2024 election records.
- The department is seeking voter registration data that includes sensitive personal information and may share some of this data with the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship verification.
- Blanche said there are hundreds of open investigations into people allegedly voting illegally who are in the U.S. without permission, with some people charged so far.
- The collected voter information will be used by federal agencies to detect illegal voting but not stored in a single known database.
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