WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) – The Minnesota secretary of state’s office has received a grand jury subpoena ordering it to turn over certain individual voter records as part of a federal investigation into whether non-U.S.-citizens are registered to vote or have unlawfully cast ballots, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.
CBS News, which first reported the subpoena, said the investigation is being run by the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for the Minnesota secretary of state, Steve Simon, said election security is a top priority, though the office does not directly register voters or administer elections.
“Secrecy is a cornerstone of grand jury proceedings and as such our office will not confirm or deny the existence of any subpoenas,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said its collaboration with the Justice Department would prevent non-citizens from “corrupting our republic’s democratic process and further ensure the integrity of our elections nationwide.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly alleged immigrants living unlawfully in the United States have signed up to vote in large numbers, despite studies finding that non-citizen voting is rare.
The subpoena is the latest to target a high-ranking state official in Minnesota. In January, as the Trump administration surged thousands of federal agents in the state, the DOJ sought records from Minnesota’s governor and attorney general as part of an investigation into interference with immigration enforcement.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Andrew Goudsward in Atlanta; Editing by Ryan Patrick Jones and Sonali Paul)
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