The Justice Department is escalating its clash with California over voter-roll access, accusing state officials of blocking a federal audit — though Golden State officials warn the demand threatens voter privacy and oversteps federal authority.The dispute centers on voter roll maintenance and access to registration records, not any publicly identified allegation of impropriety in a specific California race."If California genuinely wants voters to trust its elections, it should open its records, not fight to keep them closed," Assistant U.S.Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in a lengthy post on X that included a copy of a letter U.S.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ office enforcing federal voting-rights laws, sent to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber last year demanding the state's voter rolls for inspection. "What are they afraid of?" Essayli questioned.MORE THAN 500,000 CALIFORNIANS DEMAND VOTING OVERHAUL, BACK ‘STRAIGHTFORWARD’ ID LAWCalifornia’s rules allow certain first-time voters who do not provide a Social Security number or driver’s license when registering to verify their identity with documents including gym membership cards, employer IDs, credit or debit cards, prescription labels and insurance cards — a policy Assistant U.S.Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli says warrants scrutiny.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Emily Elconin/REUTERS)Dhillon’s letter followed an Aug.8 response from Weber’s office raising concerns about privacy protections that could be implicated by the state voter-registration data sought by the federal government.
A spokesperson from California Governor Gavin Newsom's office told Fox News Digital that "every federal court to consider the issue has ruled U.S.DOJ’s demands violate federal law," adding that "unlike this federal administration, we don’t do things that are illegal."Weber’s offi...