Michigan contests Trump DOJ request for 2024 ballots

April 21, 2026

Summary

Michigan officials said they would fight a Justice Department request for Detroit-area 2024 ballots and election materials.

Why this matters

The dispute highlights a growing conflict between state election officials and the Trump administration over access to voting records. It also reflects continuing legal and political battles over election oversight and public trust in voting systems.

Michigan officials said Sunday they would oppose a U.S. Department of Justice request for Detroit-area ballots and other 2024 election materials, saying the demand could undermine confidence in U.S. elections.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the department sent a letter last week to the Wayne County clerk seeking ballots, ballot receipts, and ballot envelopes. Wayne County includes Detroit, a heavily Democratic area.

Nessel’s office released the letter, written by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, along with a response stating the state would fight the request.

“This request is as absurd as it is baseless,” Nessel said in a joint statement with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

“If this administration wants to bring this circus to our state, my office is prepared to protect the people’s right to vote.”

Nessel, Whitmer, and Benson are Democrats. Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly made false claims that widespread voter fraud caused his 2020 loss to former President Joe Biden. Dhillon’s letter focused on the 2024 election and said it also warranted review.

The Justice Department confirmed the letter was authentic in response to a Reuters request, but did not comment further.

Questions about the 2020 election remained a priority for some Trump administration officials. In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” FBI Director Kash Patel said arrests tied to alleged 2020 election issues were “coming soon.”

Dhillon said Justice Department staff had reviewed 60 million voter records and found 350,000 names of dead people. She did not provide evidence that ballots were cast in those names.

She also said about 25,000 people without proof of citizenship were referred to the Department of Homeland Security “to dig into that further and see the extent to which people voted.”

Federal judges have ruled against several Justice Department requests for election records, including in Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon. On Friday, a federal judge rejected the department’s effort to require Rhode Island to turn over nonpublic data on nearly 750,000 registered voters for an election integrity review.

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Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced the deal aboard the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force frigate JS Kumano in Melbourne.

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Taiwan’s ministry announced the passage Monday in a brief statement on X, with an image of the Liaoning. Taiwan’s military “monitored the situation and responded,” it said.

The transit through the 110-mile-wide waterway between China and Taiwan came days after the Japanese guided-missile destroyer JS Ikazuchi passed through the strait. That was the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s fourth transit since June, according to Japan News.

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Image captions said that, during a live-fire event, the LOCUST laser weapon system “effectively detected, tracked, engaged, and neutralized multiple unmanned aerial vehicles marking a milestone toward fielding operational directed energy capabilities.”

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