US Justice Dept orders Arizona to preserve election records from 2020, documents show

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department has ordered Arizona to preserve all election records dating back to 2020 as it prepares for a potential lawsuit over alleged voting law violations, according to public records released on Wednesday.

In an August 12 letter to the Arizona Secretary of State, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said it is authorized to sue Arizona over alleged violations of the Help America Vote Act. Congress passed the measure after vote counting problems, particularly in Florida, during the 2000 presidential election between former President George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore.

That law required states to create a computerized voter registration list and imposed minimum standards to ensure clean voter rolls, in addition to voter registration and identification requirements.

In the August 12 letter, the Justice Department alleged that Arizona's voter registration forms contain flaws that allow people to register to vote without providing a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number. It also raises other concerns about how the state verifies voters in its systems.

Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, later sent a follow-up letter to Arizona on September 4 ordering the state to preserve all election-related records dating back to 2020 - the year Trump lost his re-election campaign to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Arizona responded to the Justice Department's correspondence in a September 9 letter, also released on Wednesday, asking the department to clarify what litigation is being contemplated against the state.

It added that the state never received the department's August 12 letter about the litigation and told the department that the Secretary of State has no authority to direct a county to preserve its election files.

All three letters between the Justice Department and Arizona were released to Reuters on Wednesday under a public records request.

BROADER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION TARGETS MULTIPLE STATES

The Civil Rights Division in recent months sent requests for voter registration-related data to states, saying it wants to ensure compliance with two federal laws.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Justice Department plans to share the data compiled by the division with Homeland Security Investigations, part of the Department of Homeland Security, to be used for criminal and immigration-related probes.

Several states have resisted the requests, citing privacy concerns.

On Tuesday, the Civil Rights Division sued Oregon and Maine for allegedly refusing to hand over information regarding voter list maintenance procedures and electronic copies of statewide voter registration lists.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)