Justice Department requests access to Dominion voting equipment used in Missouri in 2020

Source: CNN Politics/AP

PUBLISHED Sep 4, 2025, 8:55 AM ET


AP — The US Department of Justice has requested access to voting equipment used in the 2020 election in two Missouri counties in what appears to be a wide-ranging effort to more closely monitor election processes around the country. A DOJ official in August contacted the county clerks and asked for access to their Dominion Voting Systems equipment, according to a memo from the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities that was shared Wednesday with The Associated Press.

Jasper County Clerk Charlie Davis declined, saying he no longer had the equipment. The memo said McDonald County Clerk Jessica Cole had the equipment, but also declined. In a statement quoted in the memo, Cole said state and federal law prohibits election officials from giving unauthorized access to election equipment.

The unconventional requests to a state President Donald Trump has won three times, first reported by the Missouri Independent, signal how the DOJ during Trump’s second term has sought a closer watch over how states run their elections. The president himself has sought broad authority over elections in the runup to the 2026 midterms that the Constitution does not give him.

Election experts have said the Justice Department is stretching beyond its legal authority with its outreach in Missouri and its separate demands for state voter registration lists in nearly two dozen states.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/04/politics/doj-voting-equipment-states