DOJ civil rights chief requests Maryland retain records regarding mail-in ballot error

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon asked Maryland election officials to retain copies of all ballots that will be used in the state’s upcoming primary election, in response to false accusations that ballots were fraudulently sent out to voters.

Her request comes after President Donald Trump called for the DOJ to investigate a “vendor error” from earlier this week, where some Maryland voters were accidentally sent mail-in ballots from the wrong party.

Dhillon’s letter, addressed to Maryland State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis, acknowledged that it was an error, as did her social media post about the mail-in ballots, which she referred to as “mistakes.”

“We write to you as the chief election official for the State of Maryland to request preservation of records and information regarding a recent announcement by the Maryland State Board of Elections that it will be mailing out replacement ballots to correct a vendor error,” wrote Dhillon. “We write to request that you preserve true and correct copies of all ballots, mailing  records, other auditable records, and all corrective actions taken for Maryland’s June 3 primary election.” 

Maryland’s primary is actually on June 23.

It appears the letter may be an escalation of Trump’s desire to end mail-in ballot voting, which he has falsely framed as rife with widespread voter fraud. In a Truth Social post earlier this week Trump made the baseless claim that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore allowed the mail-in ballots error to happen “in order to make sure that Democrats win.”

It's the wrong time to send voters the wrong ballots. This @TheJusticeDept’s @CivilRights will not let Maryland's mail-in ballot mistakes go unnoticed! pic.twitter.com/nm9S1x9amX

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) May 22, 2026

The state elections board had already caught the error, hence its announcement on May 15 that it was sending out replacement mail-in ballots to all who requested them. 

“We are diligently working to address this error and provide clear instructions to those affected as quickly as possible,” said DeMarinis in a press statement.

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) already requires election officials to retain ballots after elections, as Dhillon acknowledged. However, her letter suggests a more expansive probe.  

“Please forward this request to any and all individuals, including election officers in charge of local boards of elections, and vendors that may be in possession of records responsive to this preservation request,” wrote Dhillon.

To help ensure that voters won’t confuse the ballots mailed in error with the replacements, the state elections board said the new ballot envelopes will say “REPLACEMENT BALLOT INSIDE,” and is asking voters to destroy the original ballots sent out.