Oregon Lawmakers Demand Trump Reverse Course on Plan to Suppress Oregon Voters

Trump threatens Oregon election officials that do not comply with administration's illegal and unconstitutional election requests

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Salinas, Val Hoyle, Maxine Dexter and Janelle Bynum today sounded the alarm on the Trump administration's threat against Oregon election officials unless they adhere to the administration's plan to create a national voter database, potentially nullifying the voter registration of millions of registered Oregon voters.

"It is clear that after these attempts to secure access to sensitive state voter data have been repeatedly rejected by the courts, you are resorting to public threats of prosecution and intimidation against elections administrators in order to coerce state officials to turn over their voter rolls and cede their constitutional duty to conduct elections to the executive branch," the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The demand comes after the Trump administration threatened Oregon election officials with criminal prosecution over the administration's claim of noncitizens voting. For months, Trump has tried to chip away at voter registration and vote-by-mail in an effort to interfere in the consequential November midterms.

Earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order requiring the creation of a national voter database, which would require states to submit their voter registration lists to the federal government for review. The order was put on pause after it was blocked in court. Trump continues to push passage of his Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in Congress, which would undermine vote-by-mail in an illegal and unconstitutional effort to undermine the rights of states to control their own election systems.

Last month, Oregon lawmakers led the charge against a new rule issued by the U.S. Postal Service that would undermine Oregon's vote-by-mail system.

Text of the letter can be found here and below.

We rebuke your threats against Oregon elections officials and demand the Department of Justice (DOJ) cease this targeted witch hunt of states' election administration ahead of consequential midterm elections.

On July 7, 2026, the most recent threat was issued by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and comes following repeated failures by the DOJ to illegally attempt to obtain Oregon voter rolls containing sensitive voter information through litigation in order to create an unprecedented national voter database. It is clear that after these attempts to secure access to sensitive state voter data have been repeatedly rejected by the courts, the DOJ is resorting to public threats of prosecution and intimidation against elections administrators in order to coerce state officials to turn over their voter rolls and cede their constitutional duty to conduct elections to the executive branch.

Election officials across the country are on the frontlines of our elections, they already face unprecedented attacks and face personal safety concerns. We should be working to protect election officials regardless of political affiliation, not using government resources to further intimidate election officials that are following all federal laws, and consistently administering elections that are safe and secure, as is the case in Oregon.

These efforts are a direct attempt to undermine vote-by-mail, which is used successfully by tens of millions of eligible voters every election. Despite these efforts, the courts have also repeatedly blocked implementation of President Trump's executive orders that aim to restrict vote-by-mail. Faced with these combined failures, the DOJ is now attempting to coerce stateelections officials with threats of prosecution in order to prevent Americans from voting.

These threats are a clear pattern in strategy to disenfranchise millions of voters in Oregon andnationwide and attack states' constitutional right to manage and oversee elections. We demand that you immediately cease these efforts.

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