Judges Reject DOJ Maine Wisconsin Voter Roll Dismissal Demands

Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin issued the maine wisconsin voter roll dismissal on Thursday, rejecting Justice Department demands for statewide voter registration rolls. The rulings blocked the federal government from forcing turnover of unredacted lists in two states and left the department 0-8 in 31 lawsuits over the same records.

Lance Walker In Maine

U.S. District Judge Lance Walker said voter list maintenance is not among the investigatory purposes that can support a Title III records demand. He wrote, “whatever investigatory purposes may support a Title III records demand, voter list maintenance is not among them.”

Walker also wrote, “I do not believe that [a voter registration list] can be fairly described as a record or paper that ‘comes into [the] possession’ of Maine’s election officers, as that phrase is most naturally construed.” He added that the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Votes Act do not contemplate “the line-by-line audit of each state’s computerized SVRL by the federal government.”

In the same ruling, Walker said the United States has leaned heavily on Title III of the Civil Rights Act even though it was “not drawn with any of our present concerns in mind.” He said the Justice Department must use the pre-suit investigation and enforcement mechanisms in the NVRA and HAVA, which do not contemplate production of the unredacted computerized list to the Attorney General.

James Peterson In Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge James Peterson held that statewide voter registration lists are not records subject to the Civil Rights Act. He wrote, “This court agrees with Benson and Fontes that § 20701 does not encompass records created by state election officials, including voter registration lists.”

Peterson added, “The government’s arguments to the contrary are not persuasive.” His ruling followed the same legal theory the department used in Maine, where the government had sought unredacted voter registration records from nearly every state.

Walker said Maine was one of many states that declined the request. He also noted that the United States had initiated thirty nearly identical lawsuits and that six of those cases had already been dismissed on similar motions before him.

DOJ’s Nationwide Campaign

The dismissals deepen a broader pattern for the Justice Department’s effort to obtain statewide voter registration rolls across the country. The department has sought the records from nearly every state, and the Thursday rulings add two more losses to a record that now stands at 0-8 in 31 lawsuits against states and Washington, D.C.

For states that refused to hand over unredacted voter rolls, the Maine and Wisconsin rulings remove two more federal demands from the board. They also strengthen the position taken by judges who have already rejected similar cases in Michigan and Arizona, keeping the dispute inside the same legal lane unless the department pursues another procedural step in a different court.