Democracy Chronicles is following this story closely following on the heels of recent court rulings in North Carolina regarding partisan redistricting. In a new twist to the state’s chaotic administration of elections, the Justice Department is demanding that millions of voter records in North Carolina be handed to federal authorities. Apparently they are claiming they need the information as part of the Trump Administration’s ongoing crusade to prevent noncitizens from voting.

The latest on the controversy from Politico:

Federal officials are demanding millions of voting documents from North Carolina in hopes of furthering an existing case that accused 19 non-citizens of voting illegally in 2016, CNN reported Wednesday. The subpoena seeks copies of all voter registrations filed from 2010 to 2018 statewide. A second seeks voting records in Pitt County from 2013 through 2018. Together, the subpoenas would generate upwards of 15 million individual documents — including 2.2 million cast ballots that could be traced to specific voters.

Federal prosecutors charged nine people with lying about their citizenship in order to vote and 10 others with lesser illegal voting charges in August. Their alleged criminal conduct ranges from knowingly voting after fraudulently obtaining citizenship in one case to casting votes after having legal permanent residence status for years in nine of the cases.