DNC threatens to sue Nebraska over potential deal to remove voters flagged by feds
Source: Nebraska Examiner
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen set to hand over state voter data to the DOJ next month
By: Juan Salinas II - January 9, 2026 5:00 am
LINCOLN — The Democratic National Committee has threatened to sue Nebraska over what it describes as a potential agreement with the Justice Department to require election officials to remove any allegedly ineligible voters identified during federal reviews of state voter rolls.
The letter, obtained by the Examiner, set to be sent Friday morning, says the DNC wants to “ensure” the state and the secretary of state are aware of federal constraints on voter registration list maintenance and wants the state not to pursue any “unlawful removals from its official list of eligible voters in elections for federal office.”
“The DNC sends this letter in the hope that the imminent violations … may still be avoided,” part of the letter to Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen reads. “Nonetheless, the DNC stands ready to issue a formal notice should evidence of ongoing violations come to light. In the event that your office believes further conversations might help avoid a violation of federal law, I would be happy to discuss this matter with you or your staff.”
The letter, from DNC Litigation Director Daniel J. Freeman, outlines how the potential agreement would “violate” federal election law, pointing to the National Voter Registration Act. The DNC argues “a systematic purge” of registered voters would lead to “errors that remove registrants who remain eligible under state law.”
Read more: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/01/09/dnc-threatens-to-sue-nebraska-over-potential-deal-to-remove-voters-flagged-by-feds/
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This is what federal law says . . .
First -- We retired to rural Virginia where we lived for the past 18 years before moving to be closer to our children and grandchildren. I served for 12 years as a member of the three-person County Electoral Board -- every one of Virginia's 133 locales has a 3-member Electoral Board. Here is my experience.
This is what federal law says.
IF YOU HAVE NOT VOTED IN TWO CONSECUTIVE FEDERAL ELECTIONS, THEN:
1. Your registration is marked as INACTIVE VOTER.
2.. The state body that governs elections sends you a letter.
3. The letter tells you that, IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND WITHIN 30 DAYS, YOUR REGISTRATION IS CANCELLED.
4. Enclosed in the letter is a form for you to sign and a postage-paid envelope to use to return the form.
5. If you do not respond within 30 days, your registration is cancelled. Period.
Note that you are marked INACTIVE if you DO NOT VOTE IN TWO CONSECUTIVE FEDERAL ELECTIONS. If you do not vote in the federal election in 2020, but vote in the local election in 2021, then do not vote in the 2022 federal election, you are now inactive because you did not vote in the federal elections in 2020 and 2022 -- the local election in 2021 does not count.
It was not unusual for a voter to show up at the polls to vote and find that their registration was cancelled, or, that they were listed as an INACTIVE VOTER, in which case they were allowed to vote but they had to sign a statement certifying that they did not want their registration to be cancelled for inactivity. When asked if they had received their letter notifying them of their inactive status, the answer was always "What letter? I never saw such a letter." In every case, our records showed the letter had been sent but no response had been received.
When told of this, a typical response was "I don't pay any attention to form letters." Elderly voters (I'm 81, I can saw "elderly"
were especially prone to ignore the letter.
Another response was "I use a PO box, maybe it was sent to my street address where I do not have a mailbox." If the letter is not deliverable, the official envelope clearly states that it is to be returned to the State Dept of Elections.
I am not in any way trying to justify the Republicans' ongoing attack on voter registration, however, I fell it necessary that everyone understand the law and how it functions (or is supposed to function).
PLEASE:
-- Check your voter registration record. In most -- probably all - states, you can do so online. If you can't do it online, GO TO YOUR LOCAL REGISTRAR OF VOTERS AND DO IT IN PERSON. No, your children or sister or neighbor cannot do it for you -- you must do it in person.
-- Keep your MAILING ADDRESS current. Every state has in their voter registration records a place for MAILING ADDRESS and RESIDENCE ADDRESS. DO NOT PUT A PO BOX IN RESIDENCE ADDRESS -- you do not reside in your PO box. MAILING ADDRESS is where you put your PO box, if you use a PO box.
-- VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION.
-- Check in on your older relatives.
In Virginia, the General Assembly requires the Dept of Elections to provide an annual report on VOTER REGISTRATION LIST MAINTENANCE, which includes how many voters have been removed from the rolls in the past year and the reason for removal. You can see copies of the annual list maintenance reports here.
https://www.elections.virginia.gov/resultsreports/maintenance-reports/
For example, between 9/1/2024 and 8/31/2025, 221,105 inactive voters were removed from the Virginia voting rolls.
Here is that annual report. Your state probably does the same thing.
https://www.elections.virginia.gov/media/formswarehouse/maintenance-reports/2025-Annual-List-Maintenance-Report.pdf
According to the records on the VA Dept of Elections website, right now there are 6,086,076 registered voters in Virginia and 313,526 are listed as INACTIVE -- thus, those 313,526 (or whatever the current inactive number is) will receive a letter when list maintenance is performed in the summer of 2026 and a lot of them will be dropped from the rolls because they did not respond.
https://www.elections.virginia.gov/media/registration-statistics/2025/12/pdf/Daily_Registrant_Count_By_Locality_2026_01_01_053415.pdf