The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter last week to state election officials across the country, including in Louisiana, emphasizing that election workers could face criminal charges if they do not preserve all voting records.

It’s part of a larger push by President Donald Trump’s administration to crack down on voter fraud. Some Democrats have accused the Republican administration of stoking unwarranted fears about voter fraud and trying to intimidate election officials to interfere in Tuesday’s election, which party controls Congress.

An Oct. 29 letter from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter says that federal law requires state election officers to preserve voting records for 22 months after an election.

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Kadie Rome, bottom right, and her nephew, John, bottom left, help load voting machines from a New Orleans East warehouse onto a delivery truck driven by KadieΓ•s brother, Cory, center, on Monday, November 2, 2026. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)

β€œThese records include, for example, completed voter registration forms, pollbooks and precinct sign-in sheets, copies of identity documents, requests for a vote-by-mail ballot, envelopes containing a completed ballot, the ballot itself whether mailed, placed in a drop box, or submitted in person, any document that vouches for the eligibility and qualifications of another voter, and other related records produced by the act of registering to vote or voting,” the letter says.

The letter notes that failure to follow those rules β€” or stealing or destroying ballots β€” is a crime, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Trey Williams, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said that Louisiana already complies with the requirements because they are federal law.

Other states bristled at the communication. A letter addressed to Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read misspelled his name.

β€œAs secretaries of state across the country know, effective election administration requires professionalism, competency and attention to detail,” Read wrote in an Oct. 30 reply to McCotter. β€œIt is in that spirit that I will point out to you that my name is spelled R-E-A-D, as in β€˜read the Constitution.’”

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Voting machines are prepared for delivery to polling stations throughout New Orleans on Monday, November 2, 2026, as trucks wait nearby to be loaded. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)

Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry, a Republican, has been supportive of the Trump administration’s efforts to scrutinize state voter rolls. Landry helped launch of several noncitizens who were recently charged with voting illegally in the 2024 election. She also earlier this year, while dozens of other states have resisted requests for their voter lists.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has been battling in several court cases over ballot-counting. It sued California last month, cast by people it says may not be U.S. citizens. An appeals court on Friday rejected the administration’s request to set aside the ballots.

The Justice Department made a last month for the state to sequester ballots submitted by hundreds of people it suspects are not U.S. citizens. Meanwhile, another lawsuit filed in Alaska last month sought to delay certification of the vote if the Republican incumbent running for U.S. Senate doesn’t win. A federal judge in Alaska dismissed the lawsuit Sunday.

All three states have House or Senate races that will help determine the balance of power in Congress.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse.pfeil@theadvocate.com.

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