Justice Department expands legal action against states that have refused its demands for voter data

BOSTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday sued six more states in its ongoing campaign to obtain detailed voter data and other election information.

The department announced it was suing Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington over their “failure” to produce statewide voter registration lists. It has portrayed the litigation as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, but Democratic officials have raised concerns over how the data will be used and whether the department will follow privacy laws in protecting it.

Tuesday’s actions bring to at least 14 the number of states the Justice Department has sued in its quest for the voter information.

“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the department’s Civil Rights Division. “States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results.”

The department has requested the voter data from at least 26 states, according to an Associated Press tally. It’s prompted concerns among some election officials because states have the constitutional authority to run elections and federal law protects the sharing of individual data with the government.

It also signals the transformation of the Justice Department’s involvement in elections under President Donald Trump.

Many requests included basic questions about the procedures states use to comply with federal voting laws, such as how they identify and remove duplicate voter registrations or deceased or otherwise ineligible voters. Certain questions were more state-specific and referenced data points or perceived inconsistencies from a recent survey from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Some states have sent the department redacted versions of their voter lists, which in many cases are also available to the public. But the Justice Department also has requested copies that contain personally identifiable information, including voters’ names, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers.

Rhode Island Attorney General Attorney Peter Neronha said his office was aware of the lawsuit and called it the “latest example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice to further the Trump administration’s unlawful whims.”

“We stand with and will defend the secretary, and win, because lawsuits concerning lawful conduct are largely unsuccessful,” Neronha said. “But I’m not surprised that this administration is confused about what it means to behave lawfully.”

The Justice Department’s actions come alongside Trump’s push to investigate the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and influence the 2026 midterms.

At the same time, voting rights groups have sued the administration, arguing that recent updates to a federal tool for verifying citizenship could result in voters being unlawfully purged from voter lists.

Last month, 10 Democratic secretaries of state asked the Trump administration to provide more information about its wide-ranging efforts to seek the statewide voter registration lists. They cited concerns that federal agencies have apparently misled them and might be entering the data in a program used to verify U.S. citizenship.