Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones is asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to determine whether federal employees accessed Virginians’ voter records without authorization, after a whistleblower alleged that immigration officers were directed to use state voter-lookup websites while investigating suspected noncitizen voting.
Jones sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking written confirmation about any Virginia searches and demanding preservation of access logs, correspondence, training materials and other records. The Associated Press reported Thursday that Jones said Virginia election law does not allow disclosure of protected voter information to the federal government without a court order. DHS had not responded to the AP’s request for comment.
The inquiry does not establish that a crime occurred. It asks DHS to document whether its personnel used Virginia’s system and under what authority. The state’s online voter-information portal requires a user to certify that the record is the user’s own or that the voter expressly authorized access. The warning says unauthorized access to another voter’s record is unlawful.
The trigger was a 40-page whistleblower disclosure and Senate oversight letter released September 14 by Democratic Senate leaders. The disclosure alleges that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fraud-detection staff were told on August 21 to stop other work, watch a roughly one-hour-and-45-minute training, and begin reviewing names through state systems four days later. Officers were allegedly assigned five subjects an hour, or 40 a day.
The whistleblower, represented by Democracy Defenders Fund, claims employees were expected to make attestations that they were the voter or had the voter’s permission. The filing also alleges staff questioned the reliability and origins of the data and were instructed to create federal TECS records in some cases. Those are allegations from an anonymous source, not adjudicated findings. DHS told the Guardian earlier this week that the work was conducted professionally and that it would pursue illegal voting, while rejecting the suggestion that officers were rushed or inadequately trained.
Virginia law provides the legal context Jones is examining. The Computer Crimes Act makes it a misdemeanor to intentionally examine another person’s identifying information through a computer without authority. Enhanced felony penalties can apply when unlawfully obtained information is sold, distributed or used in another crime. Whether any alleged federal search fits those elements would depend on facts that are not yet public, including what was accessed and what authorization DHS claims.
The matter has immediate institutional stakes even though it does not change any voter’s registration status by itself. Virginia administers its own voter records, while federal agencies enforce immigration and election laws within defined legal limits. Jones’s preservation demand is intended to keep the evidence needed to determine where those responsibilities may have crossed.
For Virginia voters, the practical takeaway is limited: the attorney general has opened an inquiry, not announced removals or changes to voting procedures. Anyone checking registration should use the state elections portal directly and contact a local registrar if information is wrong. The next substantive development will be DHS’s response or any enforcement action based on preserved records.
