WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN — The Justice Department demanded that Wayne County, Michigan, turn over all ballots from the November 2024 election. In a letter dated April 14 to the county's chief election official, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon cited three convictions for election fraud and five lawsuits against the county that alleged election fraud. Dhillon gave Wayne County 14 days to produce requested documents, including ballots, ballot receipts and ballot envelopes.

Donald Trump carried Michigan on his way to winning the presidency in the 2024 election, but lost Wayne County, which is home to Detroit, by nearly 250,000 votes. The Trump administration has requested voting records from 29 states and Washington, D.C.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel responded in a statement posted on X. "Once again, President Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to sabotage our democratic process and turn it into his own personal agency to interfere in state elections," she said. "If this administration wants to bring this circus to our state, my office is prepared to protect the people's right to vote."

Nessel said the convictions cited by Dhillon demonstrated that Michigan's election safeguards were effective. "Using these prosecutions and recycling debunked 2020 election conspiracy theories as justification to demand copies of the ballots of Michigan residents is a clear attempt to bully clerks and spread fear, even after Donald Trump won Michigan in 2024," she said.

The FBI subpoenaed election records in Maricopa County, Arizona last month related to the 2020 election, and raided an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia earlier in the year, seizing records related to the 2020 election.