DOJ Sues 3 States and DC Over Access to Voter Rolls

A top official said states are required to provide the information to guard against ‘vote dilution’ in elections.

A polling station in Brown Deer, Wis., on Oct. 22, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed lawsuits against Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, and the District of Columbia for what it said is a failure to hand over voter rolls to the agency.

The DOJ said on Dec. 18 that laws stipulate that Congress has to ensure that states have correct voter registration and voter lists, prompting the lawsuits. So far, the DOJ has filed election-related lawsuits against 22 states, it said.

“The law is clear: states need to give us this information, so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from vote dilution,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

“Today’s filings show that regardless of which party is in charge of a particular state, the Department of Justice will firmly stand on the side of election integrity and transparency.”

The Trump administration has said the lawsuits are part of an effort to ensure election integrity. The DOJ said that the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.

Some Democratic officials and other critics of the lawsuits said they are concerned about exactly how the data will be used, and whether the department will follow privacy laws to protect the information. Some of the data sought includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.

In response to the DOJ lawsuit, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, said in a statement this past week that the DOJ should be “serving the interests of the American people, not chasing conspiracy theories.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said in a statement that his agency “shared our nation-leading list maintenance practices and public voter roll data” with the DOJ earlier this month.

“We look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls,” Raffensperger added. “Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protects voters’ privacy.”

In its lawsuits, the DOJ has cited laws including the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act, which mandate that states preserve some voting records after elections are completed and keep accurate voter registration rolls. The department also cited a section of the Civil Rights Act that says states are required to turn over election-related information to the attorney general.

Earlier this month, Dhillon told CNN host and podcaster Scott Jennings that more lawsuits could be on the way and that her office is only asking for the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers amid concerns over personal data

“By the way, the federal government issued that number, so we kind of have it,” she told Jennings. “The cat is out of the bag on their Social Security number. It’s not a secret from the federal government. It’s just dumb.”

The lawsuit comes after the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Georgia’s Fulton County, specifically to obtain voting records pertaining to the 2020 election.

The Epoch Times contacted the Illinois State Board of Elections and the District of Columbia Board of Elections for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.