The Justice Department sued Oregon and Maine on Tuesday after the states refused to provide electronic copies of their voter registration lists and related information, marking the first lawsuits the department has filed in a broader effort to obtain detailed voter data from multiple states.
The department said the states violated federal law by declining to turn over electronic voter registration lists and information about ineligible voters; it also said Oregon failed to provide documentation about how the state maintains its voter rolls. In a news release, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said, “States simply cannot pick and choose which federal laws they will comply with, including our voting laws, which ensure that all American citizens have equal access to the ballot in federal elections.” Spokespeople for the offices of the secretaries of state in Oregon and Maine said they had not yet received official notice of the lawsuits.
The suits come after the Justice Department in recent months requested voter registration rolls from at least 26 states, according to an Associated Press tally. Federal officials have followed up initial letters with additional demands that set short deadlines. Several states provided redacted versions of publicly available voter lists, but the department has on multiple occasions expressly sought copies containing personally identifiable information, including names, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers.
Some state election officials and secretaries of state have refused or demurred, citing state law or federal privacy protections. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who declined the department’s initial request and received a second request in August, said in a statement, “Maine has some of the best elections in the nation. It is absurd that the Department of Justice is targeting our state when Republican and Democratic Secretaries all across the country are fighting back against this federal abuse of power just like we are.” Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read issued a similar response, saying, “If the President wants to use the DOJ to go after his political opponents and undermine our elections, I look forward to seeing them in court,” and adding, “I stand by my oath to the people of Oregon, and I will protect their rights and privacy.”
The Justice Department has said it needs access to detailed voter data to determine whether election officials are complying with federal election laws. Some election administrators and privacy advocates have raised concerns about the requests, arguing that the department lacks authority to run elections — a power allocated to states and Congress — and that handing over sensitive individual data raises legal and privacy questions. Officials have also expressed worries the data could be used to search for potential noncitizens on the rolls.
In addition to the suits against Oregon and Maine, the department has threatened legal action against other states, including Minnesota and California, according to the department’s statements. A message left with the Justice Department requesting a copy of the court filings was not immediately returned.
The department has pursued other election-related inquiries in recent months. In August it requested access to voting machines used in the 2020 election in Missouri; the department did not publicly explain the purpose of that request. The outreach and subsequent litigation set up a test of federal authority to demand state voter lists and could shape how states balance election administration, privacy protections and federal civil rights enforcement.
Court procedures and schedules for the Oregon and Maine suits were not immediately available. The cases are likely to prompt further legal and political debate over federal access to state voter registration data ahead of the next federal election cycle.