Padilla Condemns Trump Administration’s Unconstitutional Attempt to Purge Voter Rolls in California, Five Other States

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and California's former Secretary of State, issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) decision to file new lawsuits against six states, including California, for their refusal to hand over their state's voter information and registration lists to the federal government:

"This baseless, partisan lawsuit is about one thing: restricting the right to vote in order to undermine our democracy. Whether it's combing through personal voter information or threatening to prosecute hardworking election officials, Donald Trump and his Administration will stop at nothing to rig future elections in a desperate effort to cling to power. Now he's weaponizing the Department of Justice in a clear attempt to purge eligible citizens from voter rolls in California and other states across the country.

"No matter what Trump and MAGA Republicans claim, voter fraud is extremely rare. And the Constitution clearly gives states - not this Administration - the responsibility to administer elections. California maintains one of the most transparent election processes in the nation. We will fight back and defeat this blatantly partisan lawsuit."

Senator Padilla has led the charge in opposing the Trump Administration's thinly veiled attempts to purge voter rolls and investigate unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. On John Lewis National Day of Action in July, Senators Padilla, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) led 13 Senators in raising the alarm on the DOJ Civil Rights Division's policy shift to focus on unsubstantiated voter fraud investigations. Earlier that month, Padilla, Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) expressed serious concerns that recent changes to and the expanded use of the insufficiently tested Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program could purge eligible citizens from state voter rolls. Earlier this year, Padilla led 11 Senators in introducing the Defending America's Future Elections Act to repeal Trump's illegal anti-voter executive order and prevent the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive voter registration data and state records.

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