From the office of Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh:

“Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today led a coalition of 23 attorneys general in calling on U.S. Attorney General William Barr to reverse his abrupt change to a 40-year-old U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) policy which they said ‘will erode the public’s confidence in the election.’ Until this week, DOJ policy kept the department from interfering with election results.

“The American people have voted in record numbers in a safe and secure election and have clearly chosen a new president.  Despite this, Attorney General Barr issued a new directive on November 9th allowing U.S. attorneys to pursue allegations of voter fraud without adhering to long-established, important guardrails.  Until now, the DOJ has recognized that the principal responsibility for overseeing elections lies with states and has ‘taken care to avoid affecting the outcome of elections or even the perception of political intrusion in the electoral process.’

“‘States have the responsibility of overseeing elections.  DOJ has been careful for decades to avoid taking action that would undermine public confidence in the results,’ said Attorney General Frosh.  ‘If fraud occurs, we are committed to rooting it out and helping to bring the perpetrators to justice.  DOJ’s policy change smacks of partisan intrusion in the election.’ 

“Joining Attorney General Frosh and Attorney General Ellison in signing the letter are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.”