(File Photo of the U.S. Department of Justice Logo)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department sued six more states on Thursday, saying the states are illegally blocking the agency’s wide-ranging effort to scrutinize detailed voter data in a brewing court fight over what states say is the private, protected information of residents.
The Justice Department also accused the states of failing to respond sufficiently to questions about the procedures they take to maintain voter rolls as states called the department’s request for voters’ personal information unprecedented and illegal, and vowed to fight it.
The department’s newest lawsuits targeted California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania after it sued Oregon and Maine last week and has said it is mounting a nationwide effort to ensure that states are complying with federal requirements to maintain voter rolls.
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “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.”
All eight states being sued are led by Democratic governors, except for New Hampshire, which is led by a Republican.
An Associated Press tally found that the Justice Department has asked at least 26 states for voter registration rolls in recent months and in many cases asked states for information on how they maintain their voter rolls.
Some states have sent redacted versions of their voter lists that are available to the public or declined or demurred on the voter registration data requests, citing their own state laws or the Justice Department’s failure to fulfill federal Privacy Act obligations.
Minnesota’s secretary of state, Steve Simon, said in a statement Thursday that Minnesota’s elections are “fair, accurate, honest and secure” and that the Department of Justice isn’t entitled to the information.
“We have been very clear with the DOJ about our position that state and federal law do not allow our office to provide them with private voter data unless they provide information about how the information will be used and secured,” Simon said.
The Justice Department never responded to Minnesota’s inquiries about that before it sued Thursday, Simon said.
California’s secretary of state, Shirley Weber, said in a statement that the Department of Justice “failed to provide sufficient legal authority to justify their intrusive demands” and its lawsuit has no basis in any previous department practice or policy.
Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, Al Schmidt, called the department’s demand for voters’ personal information “unprecedented and unlawful” said his agency will fight the federal government’s “overreach.”
In its lawsuits, the department said the states were breaking federal law by refusing to supply all of their information on registered voters, including a voter’s full name, date of birth, address, state driver’s license number and the last four digits of their Social Security number.
That, and insufficient answers about voter list maintenance procedures, make it impossible for the Justice Department to determine whether the states are complying with federal law, the department told the courts.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said her agency gave the Justice Department what it is legally entitled to, the public version of Michigan’s voter file. But she said she told the department it couldn’t have the private, personal information of more than 8 million state residents because it is protected by state and federal law.
Benson called it an “illegal and unconstitutional power grab” and said the department rebuffed questions about why it wants the information.
“I have asked them these questions. Other secretaries of state – both Democrats and Republicans – have also asked them these questions. They refuse to give us a straight answer,” Benson said.
The Justice Department’s outreach has alarmed some election officials because the agency doesn’t have the constitutional authority to run elections. That power is granted to states and Congress. Federal law also protects the sharing of individual data with the federal government.
Election officials suggest that federal officials want the sensitive data for other purposes, such as searching for noncitizens on the rolls.
Benson and Nevada’s secretary of state, both Democrats, have said they will work together with other state election officials to oppose the department’s requests.
