DOJ tells Nevada election chief he is under investigation

Ricardo Torres-Cortez, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sep 9, 2026

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The U.S. Justice Department demanded that Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar preserve records related to the 2024 election while the federal government appeals a court ruling in a lawsuit that seeks the state’s unredacted voter registration database.

In a litigation-hold letter, DOJ official Eric Neff also informed the state’s chief elections officer that he was under investigation and in ongoing litigation over the extent to which he had complied with federal records requests.

Friday’s correspondence arrived three weeks after a federal court in Nevada dismissed the DOJ case and a day before the statutory period to keep the records expired.

“We sent the letter to the states we are in active litigation against regarding their failure to provide the full (statewide voter registration lists) as required by federal law,” an unnamed DOJ official wrote in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Aguilar told the Review-Journal on Wednesday that his office already was holding onto the requested records through the appeal process, past the 22-month preservation period required under the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

“From a legal standard, we absolutely have to comply with that part of the letter, and we will — and we have,” he said in an interview. “And we notified all the counties and told them that they needed to preserve the information that’s being requested, and just educated anybody who had questions about that request.”

Purported investigation into Aguilar

Neff wrote that Aguilar had been under investigation since 2025, when the federal government initially sought the records.

“As you are aware, you are currently under investigation and (in) ongoing litigation as to the extent to which you have failed to comply with your duties under the (Civil Rights Act) as well as the National Voter Registration Act … and Help America Vote Act,” Neff wrote.

The DOJ in June 2025 requested voter information from Nevada that included full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers, despite a state law barring lists from including such sensitive data.

In her Aug. 14 ruling, U.S. District Judge Anne R. Traum wrote that the government had failed to provide a “basis and purpose” to compel the state to produce the requested records.

Aguilar said that the letter was the first time he received direct confirmation from the DOJ that he was being investigated. He accused the federal government of an attempted takeover of the U.S. election process, a constitutional duty of states.

“The Trump Administration is attempting to intimidate election officials and overwhelm offices that should be focused on the upcoming November general election,” he said in a previous statement. “Now, they’ve sent another letter with demands to Nevada, threatening civil and criminal penalties if we don’t comply.”

The secretary of state’s office last week said that it had received seven DOJ subpoenas over the previous three months related to voter information. It wasn’t immediately clear if they’re related to the investigation into Aguilar mentioned in Neff’s letter.

Aguilar noted that he couldn’t comment further on the subpoenas, and the DOJ did not answer questions about them, or about any potential federal investigation.

The DOJ demanded that Aguilar’s office preserve and retain documents that may be relevant to any lawsuit the federal government files against him.

“The duty to preserve records supersedes any statutory limitations, especially where the party ‘has notice that the evidence is relevant to litigation,’” Neff wrote. “Your failure to preserve relevant data may constitute spoliation of evidence, which may subject you to civil and criminal sanctions,” he later added.

Aguilar said in his previous statement that his office will work “in reasonable compliance” with the DOJ’s request, while protecting registered voters’ sensitive data.

“The courts have already taken our side — the side of the law — and dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit to gain access to protected voter data,” he said. “I will continue to stand up against attempts to interfere in our elections.”

Neff wrote that the letter would be presented as evidence in court if Aguilar fails to preserve the documents.

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