'The 2020 Playbook on Steroids': Trump DOJ Requests for State Voter Data Spark Alarm

The Trump administration has reportedly embarked on what local election officials and rights groups say is an unprecedented effort to collect data on voters across the U.S. and physically examine election equipment in states across the country, heightening concerns that the president is planning a reprise of his lawless attempt to subvert the 2020 contest.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice Department, headed by Trump loyalist Pam Bondi, "has taken the unusual step of asking at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls, and at least two have turned them over." Colorado and Florida "have provided the Justice Department with information from their lists that is generally available to the public, while most other states said they were reviewing the requests," according to the newspaper.

NPR previously reported that the Department of Justice asked Colorado's top election official in May to hand over "all records" pertaining to 2024 federal elections—a request that "could be interpreted to include voter registration materials, ballots, and voting equipment, much of which is retained by counties, not the secretary of state."

Colorado is where "the most unusual activity is happening," the Post reported Wednesday, noting that Republican operative Jeff Small "says he is working with the White House" as he pushes county clerks to "allow the federal government or a third party to physically examine their election equipment."

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, called the Trump administration's efforts "the 2020 playbook on steroids."

"This all is part of a bigger ploy to further undermine our voting in this country," warned Griswold. "They are actively in a power grab."

Even some Republican election officials responded with alarm to the Trump administration's requests for voter data and access to voting equipment.

"To me, it felt like they were wanting to intervene before 2026," Justin Grantham, the Republican clerk in Colorado's Fremont County, told the Post, referring to the upcoming midterms.

Carly Koppes, a Republican clerk in Weld County, Colorado, said she rejected requests for a federal inspection of election equipment.

"That's a hard stop for me," said Koppes. "Nobody gets access to my voting equipment, for security reasons."

"President Trump and his allies are trying to lay the groundwork to interfere with a free and fair election in 2026."

In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that, if enacted, would bar states from counting mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day and force states to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote in federal elections, among other changes.

"Enforcement of this unconstitutional executive order would impact tens of millions of Americans every federal election cycle," analysts at the Center for American Progress wrote after Trump signed the directive.

While the president's order has been mostly blocked in federal court, watchdogs warned that it underscores the Trump administration's commitment to restricting ballot access.

The Post reported Wednesday that Justice Department lawyers have pointed to the president's executive order in their requests for states to share voter data, citing a provision of the order instructing the attorney general to "enter into information-sharing agreements" with state election officials.

"President Trump and his allies are trying to lay the groundwork to interfere with a free and fair election in 2026," Samantha Tarazi, CEO of the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, told the Post.