Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced the filing of federal lawsuits against six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request.
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure — states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”
“States are required to safeguard American elections by complying with our federal elections laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Clean voter rolls protect American citizens from voting fraud and abuse, and restore their confidence that their states’ elections are conducted properly, with integrity, and in compliance with the law.”
According to the lawsuits, the AG is uniquely charged by Congress with enforcing the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which Congress designed to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs. The AG also has the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists.
Sept 16, 2025, the DOJ sued Oregon and Maine for failing to provide information regarding voter list maintenance procedures and electronic copies of statewide voter registration lists.
Sept 8, 2025, the DOJ sent a letter to WA State SoS Steve Hobbs, requesting a “complete” copy of the state’s voter registration database within 14 days. Like the aforementioned other states, the request included personal data for each registered voter: full name, date of birth, residential address, driver’s license number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
To no one’s surprise, Hobbs has refused to comply with the DOJ request, leading many to believe that the DOJ may soon sue WA State and SoS Hobbs.
Instead of trying to hide election records, these states should be partnering with the DOJ to ensure their states’ voter rolls are clean, updated, and accurate. We are living in consequential times, and refusing to be transparent with the federal government only leads to more doubt, more litigation, and more voter distrust in the election systems.
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