U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter last Saturday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) stating that he could “bring an end to the chaos” in his state by handing over the state’s complete, unredacted voter rolls —which contain sensitive personal information like voters’ Social Security numbers, driver’s license data, and party affiliation.

The letter specifically made clear that the “chaos” in question was the civil unrest against federal immigration enforcement officials in the state. In addition to the voter data, the letter demanded data on state welfare programs and the willingness of state and local law enforcement officials to assist with federal anti-immigrant actions.

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The unredacted voter data could help Trump “amplify false claims of voter fraud, wrongly remove eligible voters from the rolls, and challenge election outcomes” in an attempt to rig future elections, Mother Jones reported. The DOJ has already requested complete voter rolls from 44 states, ostensibly to “confirm [that their] voter registration practices comply with federal law.”

“It is deeply disturbing that the U.S. Attorney General would make this unlawful request a part of an apparent ransom to pay for our state’s peace and security,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D) said in a statement about Bondi’s letter.

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News of Bondi’s letter came days before an FBI raid on an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia.

John Bonifaz, president of Free Speech For People and a constitutional lawyer, said of the raid, “This unprecedented intrusion by the federal government to raid the Fulton County election office is unequivocal evidence that Trump is hell-bent on unlawfully interfering with our elections. This is a five-alarm fire for democracy.” 

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