The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday that it has filed lawsuits against four states and opened a separate action seeking detailed records from Fulton County, Georgia, tied to the 2020 presidential election.
Federal Lawsuits Over Voter Data
The suit brought by the Justice Department names Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada, alleging those states refused to turn over sensitive voter-registration data — including information about citizenship status — that federal authorities requested. The DOJ says the data is necessary to enforce federal elections laws and to guard against "vote dilution."
"States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ 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."
The department has also targeted a broader group of states in related actions, alleging they too withheld requested voter information. Those states include Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, California, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
State Privacy Concerns And Responses
State officials counter that federal requests conflict with privacy obligations and state law. Many argue they are legally required to shield personally identifiable information — such as names, dates of birth, addresses and driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers — from broad disclosure.
Officials in Washington and New Mexico say they provided public voter-registration records to federal authorities but remain under DOJ scrutiny. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) said after the suit was filed, "We will not hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voting information to Donald Trump. He does not have a legal right to the information," according to The Associated Press.
DOJ Request For Fulton County Records
Separately, federal officials requested extensive materials from Fulton County’s 2020 general election as part of an inquiry into compliance with federal law. The request seeks "all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County."
Related Georgia Litigation And Aftermath
These developments follow the recently dismissed state prosecution in Fulton County related to efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 results. In August 2023, former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen allies were indicted in Georgia on charges alleging a conspiracy to overturn President Biden’s 2020 victory; the defendants have denied the allegations.
About a month before the DOJ actions, Peter Skandalakis, executive director of Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, was appointed to take over the Fulton County district attorney’s election-interference case brought by DA Fani Willis. Skandalakis later announced he would not proceed, and in a 22-page decision said the matter should have been litigated in federal court rather than at the state level. Willis was removed from the case after disclosures about her relationship with a lead prosecutor.
Following the dismissal of the state case, former President Trump is preparing a bid to recover millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees tied to the Georgia litigation.
What’s next: The lawsuits and requests set up a legal clash between federal enforcement interests and state privacy protections. Expect court challenges and further statements from both the DOJ and affected states as the cases proceed.
