Trump is attacking our elections, and CREW is fighting back

 

Trump is attacking our elections, and CREW is fighting back

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  CREW Legal Actions 

  From:info@citizensforethics.org

  
  

  To:Mark M Giese

  Thu, Oct 22, 2026 at 3:29 PM

  Mark, With the 2026 midterms upon us, the Trump administration is working to undermine trust in our elections, spread unproven claims of voter fraud and interfere with states’ authority to run their own elections. CREW is fighting back on every front. We’re taking this administration to court. We’re filing records requests to get answers when officials refuse to explain their claims. We’re exposing this administration’s unprecedented, corrupt attempts to use taxpayer resources to push their partisan aims. Now, we have two requests from you. First of all: Please make sure you are registered to vote and help spread the word that despite the Trump administration’s efforts to suppress the vote—your vote matters and your vote will count. Second: Please consider supporting our legal work to protect our elections and our democracy. These are big fights and they take resources. The Constitution is clear: states are responsible for administering elections and maintaining their voter rolls—not the federal government and not Trump. However, since Trump took office for a second time, his administration has repeatedly attempted to interfere with elections and undermine our voting rights. The DOJ demanded sensitive, unredacted voter registration records from every state—including personal information like home addresses, Social Security numbers and voting history—that could be used to challenge voters’ eligibility. The administration wanted to consolidate that information into a national database, using it to identify suspected noncitizens and pressure states to remove them from their voter rolls. Eighteen states complied—handing over their voters’ most sensitive data. And the DOJ is still trying to get voter data from the other states that have held the line. That’s illegal and unconstitutional. So CREW, representing Common Cause and four voters, sued to stop the DOJ from illegally stockpiling millions of Americans’ confidential voter data and building a national voter database to surveil and purge voters. And Mark, just this month, we WON that lawsuit against the DOJ. The court ruled that the DOJ has no authority to consolidate sensitive voter data and doing so violates voter privacy. The decision helps protect millions of eligible voters from having their personal information misused or weaponized to challenge their right to vote. We’ve also filed public records requests to get the facts about the Trump administration’s highly baseless claims of “widespread noncitizen voting.” On July 16, President Trump addressed the nation and claimed that his administration had identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens registered to vote in federal elections. Trump ordered DHS to direct states to remove these ineligible voters immediately. At the same time, despite the president having no such authority, DHS released a so-called “factsheet” claiming that over 250,000 non-citizens were illegally registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada. There’s a glaring problem: The DHS still hasn’t explained how it came up with those numbers. So we filed a FOIA request for records that show the data sources and methodology of the Trump administration’s claims. When they failed to make a timely determination on our requests, we sued DHS and USCIS to force them to turn over the records and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to get answers as quickly as possible. We’re not going to let the administration make consequential claims about our elections without demanding evidence. Eligible voters should not have to risk losing their right to vote because of unverified government data. We’re also not going to let the Trump administration misuse taxpayer dollars for partisan propaganda. The Trump administration has used federal resources to air so-called public service announcements featuring the president’s political messaging. One ad asked Americans to love Donald Trump. Another closely resembled a video from his 2024 presidential campaign—right down to its call for Americans to join him in “the final battle.” The difference? This version ends with the words “Paid for by the U.S. government.” That means taxpayers are footing the bill. So CREW is pushing for accountability. We’ve filed a complaint with the DHS Office of Inspector General (DHS funded the ads) and we’re calling on Congress to investigate this apparent misuse of public funds and demanding that the administration stop treating government resources as its own political war chest. Mark, this is what defending democracy looks like. It’s winning in court to protect voters’ privacy. It’s demanding evidence when the government makes claims that could threaten Americans’ voting rights. It’s exposing abuses of power and fighting to hold those responsible accountable. And with the midterms upon us, this work is more urgent than ever.