The Justice Department filed suits against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada seeking statewide voter registration lists and detailed personal data, saying the states are violating federal law by refusing to comply. The requests include sensitive information such as dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. State officials and privacy advocates counter that state confidentiality laws limit disclosure and question how the data will be protected. The filings are part of a broader DOJ push that has asked at least 26 states for voter rolls and has now led to lawsuits against 18 states.
DOJ Sues Four More States for Detailed Voter Records in Broader Election-Data Drive
FILE - A voter carries his ballot to a booth at a polling station, Nov. 4, 2025, in Lawrence, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
The U.S. Justice Department filed federal lawsuits Thursday against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada as part of a wider effort to obtain comprehensive voter registration data and other election-related records from states across the country.
What the Lawsuits Seek
The complaints say the states failed to produce statewide voter registration lists and information about ineligible voters, in violation of federal law. The Justice Department has requested records that, in some cases, include voters’ full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
"States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division. "At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will."
Responses and Legal Pushback
State officials and privacy advocates have raised concerns about the requests, questioning how sensitive personal information would be used and whether adequate safeguards would be in place. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said her office declined to provide unredacted voter data: "We will not hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voting information to Donald Trump. He does not have a legal right to the information," she said after the lawsuit was filed.
Hawaii’s Deputy Solicitor General Thomas Hughes wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to the Justice Department that state law requires most personal information contained in voter registration records to remain confidential, aside from a voter’s full name, voting district or precinct and voter status. He also argued that the federal statute cited by the Justice Department does not compel states to provide electronic registration lists or "uniquely or highly sensitive personal information."
Scope And Context
With the latest filings, the Justice Department has sued 18 states in total and has also brought a case involving Fulton County, Georgia, seeking records related to the 2020 election. An Associated Press tally found the Justice Department has requested voter rolls from at least 26 states in recent months and, in many instances, asked how states maintain their voter lists.
Other states sued by the department include California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
State-Level Rulings
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 against turning over unredacted voter information to the Justice Department. Republican commissioner Robert Spindell was the lone dissenter, warning that refusing the request could invite litigation, while other commissioners said state law makes disclosure of full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver’s license numbers illegal.
Why It Matters: The dispute highlights an ongoing tension between federal election oversight and state privacy and confidentiality laws. Legal battles are likely to continue as courts decide whether federal requests for voter roll data supersede state protections.
_____ Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin.
