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The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday it is suing six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania — that have refused to turn over detailed voter roll data demanded by federal attorneys earlier this year.
The Justice Department has reached out to more than half the states in recent months for voter lists, and has indicated it plans to contact all of them. Some of the requests vary in detail, but in general they ask for voter information on millions of Americans, including personal data such as driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
Some states have released only publicly available data or invited DOJ attorneys to make public records requests. Others have refused outright. Indiana last week became the first known state to have provided sensitive personal data.
Under the Constitution, states are responsible for administering elections, and some state election officials have said they are barred by state law from handing over the information the Justice Department has demanded. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this month confirmed it had received data from the Justice Department and would use it unearth “illegal aliens.”
The Trump administration also is developing a powerful data tool that it says will help states prevent noncitizens from voting, which is extremely rare.
The lawsuits have been filed in the federal districts of the respective states. They argue that the federal government is privy to the data under two federal laws, the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA) and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), that were passed “to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs,” the Justice Department said in a news release.
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement announcing the lawsuits. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure — states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”
by Barbara Barrett, Stateline
Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
