A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department that sought to compel New Hampshire to release its voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante ruled on Monday that the department's request did not comply with a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 concerning federal election records. The judge also found that the Justice Department failed to allege any violation under the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
LaPlante, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, stated that the ruling prevents the Attorney General from having "unrestricted access to New Hampshire’s (voter list) to conduct a line-by-line audit to assess a ‘possible’ violation of a federal statute."
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, expressed his approval of the decision, affirming his commitment to protecting the private information of state voters. "I am committed to protecting the private information of New Hampshire voters to the fullest extent required by law," Scanlan said in a statement.
This dismissal in New Hampshire represents the tenth instance where the Justice Department has lost similar legal challenges. The department has pursued similar lawsuits in 30 states and the District of Columbia, seeking detailed state voter data that often includes dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. Judges have rejected these attempts in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. A separate case in Georgia was dismissed due to being filed in the wrong city, leading the government to refile the suit.
Federal officials have stated that the voter data is necessary to ensure states are adhering to federal election laws regarding the maintenance of voter registration lists. In the case involving Rhode Island, a Justice Department attorney acknowledged the intention to share unredacted voter roll information with the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship status verification.
These requests for detailed voter data have faced opposition from some Democratic and Republican officials, who argue that such demands violate both state and federal privacy laws. Despite these objections, at least 13 states have either provided or agreed to provide their voter registration lists to the department. These states include Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.