FBI subpoenas Nevada election chief’s office for voter-related information

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sent the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office seven different subpoenas concerning voters over the past three months, the office confirmed to Democracy Docket Friday.

The subpoenas, which the department sent on behalf of the FBI, are the Trump administration’s latest effort to seek information about voters in the key battleground state. 

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar’s (D) office did not provide any additional details about the documents.

In August, Aguilar told Democracy Docket he was “not scared of these f***ers” when asked about Trump officials threatening state election chiefs with criminal charges if they do not comply with the federal government’s demands for information.

The Nevada Independent first reported on the subpoenas Thursday.

The subpoenas come as the DOJ is suing the state for its full unredacted voter registration list, which would include people’s names, addresses, birthdates, driver’s license information, and partial Social Security numbers.

Last month, a federal court dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit, finding it could not demand that sensitive information under the Civil Rights Act of 1960. That ruling marked the department’s 22nd straight district court loss in its crusade to obtain voter lists from all states. The DOJ subsequently appealed that dismissal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The department is currently 0-23 in its voter roll grab. It also lost an appeal to the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin publicly alleged that an analysis of Nevada’s public voter file “revealed that there may be as many as 15,903 non-citizens registered” in the state.

However, in subsequent private meetings with state officials, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) walked back Mullin’s claims.

Instead, DHS officials disclosed that they had identified only 185 “potential” noncitizens registered in the state and that the figure cited by the secretary was only a “ceiling” of how many noncitizens could be registered.

The discrepancy suggests Mullin publicly challenged over 15,000 voters’ ability to remain registered — and, consequently, their right to vote — on premature information.

“The fact that they are so flippant about a fundamental constitutional right is unsettling,” Aguilar told Democracy Docket. “If they are going to accuse individuals in a certain state that they do not understand of being a noncitizen, when they are potentially a citizen — that is dangerous.”

Alongside his allegations of noncitizens on voter rolls, Mullin also threatened to hold state election chiefs “accountable” if they fail to comply with his department’s demands for information on voters.

DHS retreated from that assertion as well in meetings with Nevada officials, saying the department lacks the authority to charge an election official with crimes.