U.S. Justice Department sues Georgia for state's voter registration rolls
The U.S. Justice Department has sued Georgia, two other states, and the District of Columbia, accusing them of not turning over voter registration lists requested by the Trump administration.
Thursday's lawsuits are the latest in a series from the Justice Department seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country. Along with Georgia and Washington, D.C., the department sued Wisconsin and Illinois.
"The law is clear: states need to give us this information, so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from vote dilution," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "Today's filings show that regardless of which party is in charge of a particular state, the Department of Justice will firmly stand on the side of election integrity and transparency."
In a statement, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that his agency "shared our nation-leading list maintenance practices and public voter roll data" with the Department of Justice on Dec. 8.
"We look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls," Raffensperger said. "Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protect voters' privacy."
The lawsuit comes a little more than a week after the Justice Department sued Fulton County, saying that local officials refused to comply with a subpoena requesting "all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election."
Also a week ago, the the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted against the Justice Department's request for the data. Both Republican and Democratic commissioners voiced concerns about the request last week, saying it would be illegal under Wisconsin law to provide the voter roll information that includes the full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver's license numbers of voters.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said the Justice Department should be "serving the interests of the American people, not chasing conspiracy theories."
The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment.
A series of lawsuits over state voting records
Other states being sued by the Justice Department include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
The Justice Department said 10 states are either in full compliance or working toward it.
The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.
The lawsuits have raised concerns among some Democratic officials and others who question exactly how the data will be used, and whether the department will follow privacy laws to protect the information. Some of the data sought includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver's license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.