Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, told Newsmax on Thursday she is puzzled by states' refusal to hand over their voter rolls to the DOJ to ensure they are in compliance with federal law.
The DOJ has sued 29 states and Washington, D.C., for refusing to provide state voter registration lists with driver's licenses and Social Security numbers.
"You would think they'd want to show that they're in compliance with federal law, which requires clean voter rolls, but they're giving different excuses," Dhillon said on "Finnerty."
"Some of them are giving no excuse. Others are saying that their state privacy laws ... protect the data from the federal government — although that makes no sense when you think about Social Security numbers, which are issued by the Feds, of course — and various other excuses," she said.
"They don't like our purpose. They're afraid we're going to use it to harass minorities or aliens and so forth," Dhillon continued.
"Regardless, we're entitled to this data, and we're going to pursue each of these litigations to its bitter end."
Dhillon said any instance of a dead person remaining on voter rolls is enough for her to investigate.
"The left keeps moving the goalposts," Dhillon said. "First, they said this doesn't happen or it's extremely rare."
But Dhillon said a review of more than 50 million voter records showed more than 300,000 dead people on the voter rolls, along with tens of thousands of potential noncitizens.
She said she believes the states refusing to provide their voter information have something to hide.
"If you had nothing to hide, then you wouldn't hide it," Dhillon said. "And that's what I would say to these 29 states who are hiding their voter registration rolls."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.