Trump’s DOJ Could Pose a Danger to Elections and Voting Rights

President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Pam Bondi to become U.S. Attorney General, along with other appointments and his support for Project 2025, signal his priorities for the Department of Justice (DOJ)-eroding elections and restricting voting rights. Bondi's record of actively working to suppress voting rights and to subvert elections could mean that Trump expects his DOJ to be heavily involved in elections and voting during his second term.

Trump's nominee for Attorney General

Bondi is the former Florida state attorney general. She also served as one of the central lawyers for Trump during his 2019 impeachment and provided counsel to Trump on his first term's pardons. Moreover, Bondi was one of President Trump's lawyers in his quest to prove the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Bondi was involved with challenging ballots in Pennsylvania after the 2020 election and actively spread disinformation about alleged election fraud.

After these failed attempts to overturn the election, Bondi moved on to chairing the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a conservative think tank that took on the mantle of promoting Trump's policies during the Biden administration. In her position at AFPI, Bondi led the organization's work to systematically disenfranchise voters, both by legally challenging Biden's executive orders expanding voting access and by filing lawsuits against election officials and administrators.

Worryingly, Bondi has shown her willingness to toe the line to remain in Trump's inner circle. While serving as Florida's attorney general, Bondi refused to join a lawsuit concerning fraud at Trump University-a lawsuit that resulted in a $25 million settlement for the plaintiffs-after her campaign got a $25,000 donation from a Trump-affiliated charity.

Because Bondi has extensive experiencing experience practicing law, unlike Trump's previous nominee, Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance says this makes her even more dangerous.

Trump's Department of Justice

The DOJ is central to the federal government's role in overseeing elections. Among the issue areas Trump's DOJ is sure to target: voter registration and voter file maintenance. We've discussed the importance of voter file maintenance in our report on election data transparency, which is available here. Currently, the DOJ has two ongoing suits challenging voter purges in Virginia and Alabama. Trump's DOJ is not only likely to stop pursuing these cases, but even worse, they may actively pursue cases charging administrators with poor list maintenance, potentially leading to mass voter purges and voters being removed due to programs relying on out-of-date information.

In December, Trump nominated Harmeet K. Dhillon to become deputy attorney general in charge of the DOJ's civil rights division, one of the critical offices for enforcing civil rights and especially voting rights law. If confirmed, Dhillon would "oversee hundreds of civil rights attorneys charged with antidiscrimination and voting rights cases…" Dhillon has a history of hostility to civil rights law. She's focused instead on criticizing corporate diversity efforts and transgender rights, legally challenging states on voting rights policies, and spreading election disinformation like the Big Lie that Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election. According to Democracy Docket, Dhillon is "one of the leading legal figures working to roll back voting rights across the country."

Trump's DOJ will likely abandon active challenges to several state laws that restrict voting rights. The DOJ is currently suing Georgia to overturn a law that, among other things, bans providing voters waiting in line food or water and shortens the time to request absentee ballots. The DOJ also have active cases in Texas, Georgia, and Florida involving what it argues are "superfluous requirements for absentee ballots and voter registration applications."

Trump's DOJ will also likely abandon ongoing work on the issue of redistricting. Right-wing political figures have claimed that individual voters cannot file lawsuits against states for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in redistricting. If courts accept this new and questionable legal argument, only the DOJ will be allowed to file these cases, something Trump's DOJ is unlikely to do.

Finally, Trump's fixation on voter fraud, something science tells us isn't a systemic problem, could mean that his DOJ will pursue "bad-faith" criminal investigations, and even prosecutions, of both voters and election administrators.

What this means for elections and voting rights

According to Democracy Docket, "voting right may be at its most precarious position since the civil rights gains of the 1960s." Trump's nomination of Bondi and Dhillon at DOJ, and the transition team's explicit search for 2020 election deniers, raise significant concerns for the future of democracy in the United States. Bondi's history of spreading election lies, supporting attempts to subvert election subversion, and willingness to overlook crimes committed by Trump, suggest that Bondi will prioritize partisan interests over the rule of law and voting rights. Dhillon's nomination further indicates president-elect Trump's intention to curtail the DOJ's work to protect civil and voting rights. In short, Trump's second administration "will…make it harder for Americans to vote-particularly voters of color, voters with limited English proficiency, voters with disabilities, older voters, and other marginalized voters."

U.S. Senators who will be tasked with voting on these nominations should, of course, take into account the nominees' records and the likely negative impact they will have on voters across the country. The DOJ's work is vital and these positions belong in the hands of people who believe in civil rights and the importance of participatory democracy, rather than being chosen for political loyalty and the willingness to tout politically-useful falsehoods.

Fortunately, even if these nominees pass through the Senate, there are ways to counter these potential actions. Organizations like the ACLU are prepared to use litigation to block anti-voter policies. State governments can pass legislation to further protect voters' rights. We can't solve the problems we face unless democracy is working for all of us. The stakes are high, but UCS will continue to advocate for the use of science in policymaking, including using science-based solutions to encourage greater participation and help make elections more free and fair for all voters. You can learn more about this work here, and how UCS is responding to a new Trump administration here.