The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued six more states on Thursday, alleging they refused to hand over voter registration lists with complete information, as the agency conducts an effort to obtain detailed election data.
It also accused the states of not adequately responding to questions about the procedures they implement to maintain the rolls election.
The most recent lawsuits focused on California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, according to a DOJ press release, after it filed a similar lawsuit against Oregon and Maine last week and said it is implementing a national initiative to ensure states comply with federal requirements to maintain voter rolls.
“A clean voter roll is the foundation of free and fair elections,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter rolls are accurate, accessible, and secure; states that fail to meet this obligation will take this Department of Justice to court.”
Access to voter rolls varies by state, but generally the rolls are released to the public and government agencies with voters’ private data redacted (information like driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers are omitted).
The Justice Department lawsuits demand the records with that private data included.
Similar requests have been rejected by election officials across the country, both recently and in years past, due to privacy concerns and opposition to federal meddling in state elections.
Of the eight states sued, seven are led by Democratic governors, except for New Hampshire, which is led by a Republican.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice,At least 35 states have received requests for copies of their voter registration lists.
Nearly all of the states that have responded to the Justice Department’s requests have not shared their full voter registration databases, except for Indiana, which shared records with complete voter data.
The Justice Department’s move has raised concerns among some election officials because the agency lacks the constitutional authority to run elections. That power is granted to the states and Congress.
Federal law also protects the sharing of personal data with the federal government.
But the Trump administration appears to be prioritizing access to voters’ private information.
The Justice Department has confirmed that it is sharing the voter registration data it collects with the Department of Homeland Security, according to Reuters, cited by the Brennan Center for Justice.
