“This Department of Justice has now sued 24 states for failing to provide voter roll data and will continue filing lawsuits to protect American elections,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release. “Accurate voter rolls are the foundation of election integrity, and any state that fails to meet this basic obligation of transparency can expect to see us in court.”
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia, claiming that the state has refused repeated requests to provide voter information.
In a press release, the Justice Department noted that it has filed similar claims against 24 other states, as well as the District of Columbia. Almost all of the defendant states are run by Democrats.
“This Department of Justice has now sued 24 states for failing to provide voter roll data and will continue filing lawsuits to protect American elections,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release. “Accurate voter rolls are the foundation of election integrity, and any state that fails to meet this basic obligation of transparency can expect to see us in court.”
The Trump administration has relied on largely spurious claims of voter fraud to justify its near-unprecedented requests for state-controlled voter information.
“Accurate voter rolls are essential to ensuring that American citizens’ votes count only once, and only with other eligible voters,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to safeguarding fair and free elections, and will hold states accountable when they refuse to respect our federal elections laws.”
Lindsay Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that the commonwealth’s noncompliance poses a threat to public safety.
“When states attempt to hide information they are required to disclose, they undermine public trust and violate the law,” Halligan said. “This office will enforce the law to ensure the public and federal authorities receive the information they are entitled to.”
As LegalReader.com reported earlier this week, another federal court recently dismissed the Justice Department’s voter-information lawsuit against the state of California. In his decision, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said that the Trump administration’s demands could have a “chilling effect” on voter registration and, potentially, future elections.
“There cannot be unbridled consolidation of all elections power in the executive [branch] without action from Congress,” Carter wrote. “This is antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon earlier said that federal law does not permit states to divulge registration records to the Department of Justice “unless they provide information about how the information will be used and secured.”
“The DOJ remained silent—providing no information about how the data would be protected or used,” Simon said. “Instead, they chose to file a lawsuit.”
Sources
DOJ sues Virginia for not providing voter data
Justice Department Sues Virginia for Failure to Produce Voter Rolls
Join the conversation!