Attorney David Shestokas: DOJ Must Enforce Mandatory NVRA Voter Roll Maintenance Now
In 2017, Judicial Watch sued Los Angeles County for failure to follow the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) required voter roll maintenance and regular removal of invalid voter registrations.[1] Because of that case, Los Angeles County was ordered to remove 1,207,613 ineligible voters from its rolls as of February 2023.
Fast forward to the November 2024 election: “Deep Blue” Los Angeles suddenly elected a Republican prosecutor. The new Los Angeles County District Attorney, Nathan Hochman, was the 2022 Republican California Attorney General candidate. In 2024 Republican Hochman defeated woke, liberal incumbent Democrat, George Gascon.
We have a proven path to a more secure vote
In 2020, Gascon beat two term incumbent, Jackie Lacey with 2,002,865 votes. By 2024, 1.2 million ineligible voters were removed from the rolls. In the November 2024 election Democrat Gascon received 1.1 million fewer votes than he had four years earlier. He received 891,264 votes and Republican Hochman won with 1,421,207.
Gascon’s woke policies no doubt contributed to his defeat. However, Gascon’s vote loss from 2020 to 2024 mirrors the consequence of the Judicial Watch lawsuit enforcing the NVRA against LA County. 1,207,613 ineligible voters were removed. The progressive prosecutor received 1,111,601 fewer votes. You need to suspend reality to not see a connection.
The 1993 NVRA, known as ‘motor voter”, requires state driver license facilities, military recruitment centers and state benefit offices to register voters. County clerks had traditionally managed registrations.
In return for expanded registration opportunities, Congress required state election authorities to maintain clean voter rolls. These requirements include immediate removal of certain registrations: deaths, incapacity judgments, written voter requests and where applicable, felony convictions. NVRA also requires a detailed process to remove non-voters who do not respond to inquiries from election authorities and continue failing to vote.
NVRA provisions allow private enforcement of the law. Around the country, private lawsuits by Judicial Watch, political parties and others, have resulted in the removal of more than four million ineligible voters from registration rolls. United Sovereign Americans, is currently pursuing court actions against nine states. I personally filed an NVRA action for the Illinois Conservative Union in 2020.
These successes and current lawsuits, have occurred despite the many prerequisites and legal hurdles in the NVRA for private enforcement to take place. For private parties, cleaning voter rolls under the NVRA is cumbersome, time consuming and expensive. The Los Angeles County result required over five years of litigation.
The US Attorney General has the authority and the Supreme Court has acknowledged the problem
Unlike a private party, the US Attorney General has authority to enforce all aspects of the NVRA without jumping through legal hoops. The USAG also has authority to pursue charges for NVRA violations. The Justice Department website, lists 34 NVRA lawsuits or settlements since 1993, but only four involved failure by states to maintain voter rolls.
The United States Supreme Court acknowledges the problem: “It has been estimated that 24 million voter registrations in the United States—about one in eight—are either invalid or significantly inaccurate…. And about 2.75 million people are said to be registered to vote in more than one State.” HUSTED v. A. PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE 138 S. Ct. 1833, 201 L. Ed. 2d 141 (2018)
Justice Alito’s Husted opinion cited 24 million registration problems. United Sovereign Americans has completed detailed analysis of 21 states voter rolls and voting histories from the 2022 election. That analysis discovered 29 million apparently ineligible registrations. Those suspect voter entries cast 10 million votes cast.
The status quo is not working and unacceptable
Centralized mail in ballot processing controlled by a few people provides the unscrupulous with an opportunity to take advantage of inaccurate voter rolls, defeating the consent of the governed. Thus, candidates are selected, not elected.
In 2016, the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) deployed me to Broward County, FL monitoring the Trump and Rubio elections. I discovered tens of thousands of mail in ballots illegally opened in a locked room without the public observation required by law. Ultimately, the illegal process was suspended and a judge was stationed in the facility to insure ballot processing compliance with the law.
During the 2020 presidential election, RNLA sent me to Allegheny County, PA. I had organized 70 observers for the Allegheny mail in processing facility. We were corralled into a small space in a 40,000 square foot warehouse and unable to conduct meaningful observation. We did note ballot envelopes were opened before arrival in the public processing area. Additionally, I and three other lawyers, based upon whistleblower information, found vacant and condemned apartment buildings from which “registered voters” “sent in” mail in ballots.
In 2024 I worked with Bob Fioretti, Republican candidate for Cook County State’s Attorney. During early voting I spent three days at the county processing facility. Hundreds of thousands of ballots were processed without effective oversight. During those three days, I was the only outside person observing (besides hypothetical “Republican” election judges).
U.S. Attorneys must enforce the NVRA, a national issue only the Justice Department can address
Jerry Stocks, an Illinois attorney experienced in election law, including five RNLA deployments, concurs that failure to maintain voter roll integrity is a scandal. Stocks contends U.S. Attorneys must enforce the NVRA as part of restoring confidence in our elections.
Since January 20th, 2025, President Trump and his team have amazed: Panama, Greenland, USAID, DOGE, Rubio, Hegseth, Bondi, Patel, RFK Jr., Musk, female sports, DEI, Gaza, J6 pardons, Canada, Mexico, ICE, Fort Knox, border security, IRS, paper straws, dishwashers and more. To secure the benefits of President Trump’s victory and the work of his team long term, the security of elections going forward is critical.
The election of a Republican in Los Angeles County demonstrates clean voter rolls make a difference in electoral outcomes. Private citizens have limited resources to enforce the NVRA while challenging the states’ taxpayer funded lawyers. United Sovereign America data shows it’s a national issue and only the Justice Department has the resources to address the problem on a national scale.
A case for urgency in Illinois and beyond
In many states, the election process for 2026 begins soon, and voter registrations impact that process from the beginning. Illinois candidate petitions to appear on the 2026 ballot begin circulation in September, 2025. Registered voters must sign such petitions in Illinois and across the country. The ramifications are clear: Clean voter rolls impact who gets on the ballot.
There are many proposals to improve election integrity: single day voting, only paper ballots, hand counts, etc. All require changes in current law. The requirement to clean our voter rolls IS THE LAW NOW, and does not require any action by Congress. It must be enforced.
David Shestokas is an attorney licensed in IL and FL. He is a former Assistant State’s Attorney for Cook County, IL and author of Constitutional Sound Bites and Creating the Declaration of Independence. Follow him on X @shestokas, Instagram, @shestokas and for updates and how to be involved, join his Facebook group, Dave Shestokas on the Constitution. _______________________________________________________________________
[1] The constitutional authority of Congress to regulate registration is found in Article I §4 cl. 1: which authorizes Congress to regulate the time, place and manner of electing federal officials.
