Democrats sue DOJ, DHS, and DOD after not getting answers on critical election question

DNC takes Trump administration to court

The Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing three federal agencies of ignoring records requests.

The DNC sent 11 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests back in October 2025 asking the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Department of Defense (DOD) about any plans to send federal agents to polling places.

Nearly five months later, the DNC says it has not received any documents or real answers from any of the three agencies.

The DNC wants a judge to intervene

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to force all three agencies to comply with the FOIA requests. That could mean handing over the documents, saying no records exist, or giving a legal reason for holding them back.

UCLA law professor Rick Hasen has pointed out that it is possible no deployment records even exist within the administration. The lawsuit is about the silence, not proof that deployment plans are in the works.

The DOD told reporters it does not comment on active litigation.

Midterms drove the timing of the suit

The DNC said it filed the original requests to get ahead of any legal fight needed to protect voters and election workers from intimidation.

DNC Chair Ken Martin said the party would use “every tool available” to stop voter suppression before it starts. The timing matters.

November 2026 midterm elections are about eight months away, with every House seat and 33 Senate seats on the ballot. Democrats want answers well before voters head to the polls.

Trump talked about taking over voting

In early February, President Donald Trump told the Dan Bongino Show that Republicans should “take over the voting” in at least 15 places.

He also said Republicans should “nationalize the voting” and singled out Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta as cities he does not trust to run their own elections.

The Constitution gives states, not the president, the main authority to run elections.

Courts have already blocked major parts of Trump’s March 2025 executive order on elections, which tried to require proof of citizenship to register.

Administration officials sent mixed messages

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in February she had not heard Trump discuss formal plans to put Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at polling locations.

But she would not guarantee agents would stay away, calling it a “silly hypothetical.”

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3 that there are no plans to station ICE at polls. When Sen. Chris Coons pressed her to rule it out, Noem declined.

Acting ICE chief Todd Lyons told Congress there would be no reason for ICE to be at voting locations.

DHS told state officials ICE would stay away

On Feb. 25, DHS deputy assistant secretary Heather Honey told state election officials on a call that ICE would not show up at any polling location.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams all confirmed the pledge.

Adams, a Republican, posted on social media that the commitment came directly from DHS.

Despite the assurance, Fontes said he was not inclined to take Honey at her word, citing her past involvement in efforts to question the 2020 election results.

Federal law already bans armed agents at polls

Sending troops or armed personnel to polling places is already a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. Section 592. The only exception is to repel armed enemies of the United States.

Anyone who violates the law faces up to five years in prison and a ban from holding federal office. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also makes it illegal for anyone, including federal agents, to intimidate voters.

On top of that, every state has its own laws against voter intimidation.

FBI raided a Georgia election office in January

On Jan. 28, the FBI raided the Fulton County, Georgia, election office and seized more than 650 boxes of 2020 election materials.

The raid relied on an affidavit citing claims about irregularities that state investigators had already looked into and largely dismissed.

Fulton County’s 2020 ballots went through three separate counts, and each one confirmed the results as accurate. The county has sued to get the records back, arguing the FBI lacked probable cause.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present during the raid.

Federal investigation reached into Arizona too

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen announced on March 9 that he turned over records to a federal grand jury about the 2020 Maricopa County audit.

That audit, run by a firm called Cyber Ninjas in 2021, ultimately confirmed that President Joe Biden won Maricopa County.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called the subpoena the “weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.”

The DOJ has also sued more than 20 states seeking access to detailed voter roll data across the country.

States push back with new laws

More than half a dozen states have introduced bills to keep federal immigration agents away from polling places and election sites.

A federal bill called the Democracy Without Intimidation Act would make it a crime for senior law enforcement officials to deploy officers to polling locations.

Several Democratic secretaries of state have spent months preparing for possible federal interference in the midterms.

The Committee on Safe and Secure Elections, a coalition of law enforcement and election officials, says interest in its training sessions has surged.

The case now heads to a federal judge

The lawsuit moves through federal court, where a judge could order the agencies to turn over the records. The midterm elections fall on Nov. 3, 2026.

The DOD initially told the DNC that one of its responses would not be ready until late summer, essentially right before voters head to the polls.

Voting rights groups and election officials across the country continue to build legal strategies. Several states with Republican-led legislatures have also pushed back on the DOJ’s demands for voter data.

Democrats have filed multiple election suits

This lawsuit is one of several legal actions the DNC has filed against the Trump administration over election-related issues.

Democrats previously sued to block Trump’s March 2025 executive order on elections, and federal courts have largely halted it.

The Constitution gives states the primary role in running elections, with Congress able to set some rules for federal races. The president has no direct authority over election administration.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he does not support federalizing elections.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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