The U.S. Justice Department has sent an identical warning letter to election officials in all 50 states, dated October 29 and signed personally by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, reminding them that they must preserve ballots, voter-registration records and other election materials for 22 months after a federal election — and that willfully failing to do so is a crime. The department confirmed the nationwide scope of the mailing in a court filing on Friday, October 30, obtained by Democracy Docket, just four days before the November 3 midterm elections.
Source: Democracy Docket, Oct. 30-31, 2026
“It is a crime to willfully fail to comply with Section 20701,” the letter says, according to a copy provided to Votebeat, which also viewed identical letters sent to other states. “Such a failure is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.” The letter also warns that it is unlawful to willfully steal, destroy, conceal, mutilate or alter election records. Multiple state election offices confirmed to Votebeat that they received the letters; officials familiar with the correspondence said they appear to have gone to every state.
Source: Votebeat, Oct. 30, 2026
What officials are being told to keep — for 22 months
The letters cite 52 U.S.C. § 20701, a record-preservation duty dating to 1960. As the department describes it, the records that must be kept include completed voter registration forms, pollbooks, precinct sign-in sheets, copies of identification documents, mail-ballot requests and envelopes, and “the ballot itself” — whether it was cast by mail, by drop box or in person. The letters do not cite any particular violation or open investigation against any state.
Source: Democracy Docket, Oct. 30-31, 2026
Experts: no new law — so why send it now, to everyone?
The letters impose no new legal requirement, and election-law experts told Votebeat they could not recall a precedent for a nationwide reminder of this kind days before an election. Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official who advised President Joe Biden on voting rights, said: “Election officials know that they have an obligation to comply with this law — they know that real, real well — and this certainly looks like it's meant to intimidate rather than to inform.” He added: “It is not itself improper. But it's super weird that the deputy sent this letter, and it's super weird he sent the letter to everybody.”
Source: Votebeat, Oct. 30, 2026
Joshua Douglas, an election-law professor at the University of Kentucky, made the same point about timing: “I have never seen the DOJ send this kind of letter across the country in the days before the election,” he said, adding that while the mailing at least did not target states by politics, “it feels very unnecessary and creates confusion” for officials in their busiest week of the year. Votebeat asked the Justice Department why the letters were sent so close to Election Day, why McCotter personally signed them, and whether similar reminders went out before earlier federal elections; the department had not responded as of publication.
Source: Votebeat, Oct. 30, 2026
Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, a Democrat, told Votebeat her office remains focused on carrying out the November 3 election and complies with the law as a matter of course. “While I hope the decision to emphasize criminal penalties was intended simply as a reminder of the law, it could have been handled differently,” she said. “This work is not something we do just because we receive a letter.” Some states did not immediately even see the warning: as before, the department sent some letters to general or incorrect inboxes, and the Texas letter was addressed to “Sec. Jane Nelson” — who left that office in July.
Source: Votebeat, Oct. 30, 2026
Background: the third round of warnings in four months
The October mailing is the latest in a series. July letters, signed by Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, warned officials they could face prosecution for knowingly allowing noncitizens to vote. September letters, signed by Eric Neff, acting chief of the voting section, directed 29 states and Washington, D.C., to preserve records from the 2024 election in connection with litigation over voter-registration data — notices Dhillon described as standard litigation practice rather than threats. The October letters are different in two ways, Votebeat noted: they cite the 1960 preservation duty without identifying any violation or investigation, and they carry a far more senior signature — McCotter, the department's second-highest-ranking official, who assumed the acting deputy role in August and earlier this month signed the demands that California investigate a federal list of suspected noncitizens who had received mail ballots.
Source: Votebeat, Oct. 30, 2026
The letters also landed in the middle of live court fights. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in California told the administration during a hearing that “it would be wise that any threats to state and county elected employees cease immediately,” and in a written ruling on Wednesday he rejected the department's attempt to force California to set aside ballots from roughly 20,000 voters, repeating: “These threats must stop.” The department appealed and has since issued grand-jury subpoenas to California election officials. Separately, Democratic groups sued President Donald Trump, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security on October 20, accusing the administration of unlawfully pressuring officials to remove voters and withhold ballots; on Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the agencies to disclose, by noon Friday, every state that since July 1 had received demands to remove, withhold or segregate specific ballots.
Source: Democracy Docket, Oct. 30-31, 2026
Under Section 303 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the attorney general can later demand access to preserved election records for inspection, copying and reproduction, in a written demand stating its basis and purpose. The administration has already used that authority in litigation seeking Fulton County, Georgia's 2020 election materials. Preserving every ballot and envelope for 22 months therefore decides what evidence will exist if the November 3 results are challenged, recounted or investigated — which is why a “reminder” about record-keeping, sent to all 50 states at once, drew such a sharp reaction.
What happens next
Voting is already underway and ends on Tuesday, November 3. The preservation duty itself runs for 22 months from the federal election, and the Boasberg case — in which the Justice Department's Friday response identified California and Washington as the states that received its voter-specific demands, while the Homeland Security Department identified California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Jersey for its citizenship-verification letters — will continue after the votes are counted, as will the department's appeal in the California ballots case. For Punjabi and other immigrant voters, including naturalized citizens voting in a midterm for the first time, the practical facts in the letters cut both ways: no voter's ballot is removed by this letter, every ballot cast is among the records that must be kept for 22 months, and county and state officials — not federal letter-writers — remain the people who run the polling places on Election Day.