Trump administration lawsuits in the DOJ voter registration roll litigation now span 30 states and the District of Columbia, as the administration seeks unredacted voter registration lists with sensitive details. The Justice Department says the records are needed to check compliance with the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act. Most of the cases are still active after 21 losses.
Trump and voter data
The lists sought by the Justice Department include birthdates, addresses, partial Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. Last year, the administration sent letters to most states asking for unredacted electronic copies of statewide voter registration lists, and a number of states provided public versions instead. They declined to turn over complete lists.
Mr. Trump has paired that push with broader election changes. Last year, he signed one executive order that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, and in March he announced another that tightens mail-in voting rules and directs the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Postal Service to compile and maintain lists of U.S. citizens eligible to vote. He is also pressing Congress to enact the SAVE America Act, which would significantly curtail mail-in voting and impose new voter ID requirements.
Justice Department cases
The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia to force release of the voter data. The administration has lost 21 of those cases so far. A federal judge dismissed the initial Georgia case because it was filed in the wrong court, and government lawyers refiled it. The Justice Department also voluntarily dismissed its Oklahoma case after the state agreed to turn over its voter registration list.
Most of the remaining cases are pending in Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Utah, Vermont and Washington. The Justice Department has appealed most of the dismissals, keeping the fight alive even as federal judges have rejected most of the lawsuits and one appeals court has already upheld a ruling against the administration in Michigan.
Michigan and the appeals court
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld a lower court decision rejecting the administration’s attempt to obtain Michigan’s voter rolls. That leaves the Justice Department with a divided record: some states have agreed to provide lists, most courts have not, and the appeals process continues on several dismissals.
For voters, the immediate issue is who controls access to the registration data and under what limits. For the administration, the unresolved question is how many of the remaining cases can survive on appeal and whether the courts will accept its reading of federal voting-law obligations.
