The Department of Justice on Thursday reportedly announced lawsuits against six states, accusing them of stonewalling federal efforts to ensure the accuracy of their voter rolls.
The states — California, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania — now face federal litigation for failing to provide voter registration data the department says is essential to protecting election integrity.
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” Attorney General Pam Bondi declared 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.”
The suits were filed in federal courts just hours before a federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey — a striking convergence as President Trump continues to press Bondi and others in the Justice Department to take more aggressive action against what he has described as systemic corruption.
At issue is the voter registration data maintained by state election officials, information that can include names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
The Justice Department has asserted that federal law requires states to provide this information, and has accused the targeted states of unlawfully withholding it.
“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,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
The lawsuits follow earlier legal action against Maine and Oregon, both of which the department sued earlier this month for refusing to provide similar registration records.
According to a tally by the Associated Press, the Justice Department has requested voter registration data from at least 26 states in recent months, part of what officials describe as a broad campaign to shore up election systems that critics say have been left vulnerable to abuse.
The targeted states, however, have not explained why they declined to comply. Some officials complained that the department had “remained silent” about how the data would be protected or used. “Instead, they chose to file a lawsuit,” one official said.
California and New York — two of the nation’s largest Democratic strongholds — are among the most vocal in rejecting the Justice Department’s requests.
Their resistance has fueled suspicions among conservatives that election officials in left-leaning states are unwilling to allow outside scrutiny of their voter rolls.
For the Trump administration, the lawsuits represent a public effort to fulfill a longstanding pledge to restore integrity to America’s elections.
Supporters argue that too many states have allowed outdated or inaccurate registration rolls to persist, creating fertile ground for double voting, unlawful registrations and other irregularities.
While Democrats are expected to resist the lawsuits fiercely, the Justice Department has signaled it will not back down. Bondi was blunt: “States that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”
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