Maryland Attorney General requests dismissal of lawsuit demanding state turn over voter roll

The Maryland Attorney General's Office is asking a judge to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice, which demands that the state turn over its voter roll.

This comes after attorneys in support of the DoJ said all states were asked to turn over their records.

The DOJ said it wants to conduct oversight of the management of the list, including making sure voters are alive, live in Maryland and are voting legally. State officials fear this personal information could be shared with other federal agencies or used for Immigration Enforcement.

The state says the DOJ has no purpose or basis to access the voter roll, which includes personal information like driver's license numbers, social security numbers and voter registration numbers.

"Maryland should have the right to know why the DOJ wants this list," said Jared DeMarinis, the administrator for the State Board of Elections.

The federal government said it has the power to demand this data whenever it wants for oversight purposes.

The Maryland Attorney General's Office declined to comment on this case.

WJZ reached out to the Department of Justice for comment about Wednesday's hearing, but has not heard back.

Attorneys wary of voter roll request

In court, attorneys for the state say in other cases the DOJ has said publicly that this data will be used for immigration enforcement.

"I believe it is a fishing exposition," DeMarinis added. "This is without a purpose, without telling us why they're requesting the list, and at the end, they kind of alluded to the fact that they may want to start looking at it for purposes of finding illegal or non-citizens on our rolls. Then state that purpose, or if they have any sort of list of individuals, provide us with the list, and we will do our list maintenance. That's the purpose behind all these federal laws."

The DOJ said the purpose of the lawsuit is to ensure the state is complying with federal election laws and that the list is maintained. 

Attorneys argued that the ineligible voters aren't always taken off the list. If those voters who either moved or died are still voting in Maryland, the DOJ said that would be a problem.

"The federal government obviously has a vested and constitutional interest in making sure that those elections send the people that are actually chosen," Ed Hartman, who represents Maryland Election Integrity, said. "If the states are allowed to hide their voter registration or any other records, how is the federal government to be able to step in and be sure that there's no problem?"

Oversight of Maryland voter rolls

The state said that the DOJ is not an election auditor and doesn't have that power, and that the agency is trying to create a supervisory role that doesn't exist.

The state said it is also concerned about what the actual purpose of this case is, saying there are cases and letters sent to other states where the feds have admitted to wanting to share voter registration data with immigration enforcement.

"Basically, saying everyone on the rolls is guilty by suspicion, and that's not how we to American jurisprudence," DeMarinis said. "If they're looking to just see about compliance, we can show you our procedures and our processes. You don't need the rolls to do that. There they have other motives behind this, and until they articulate those, I'm going to defend Maryland's voters and their privacy."

In a letter last year, the state offered to share publicly available data with the federal government, which it says does not include all of a voter's personal data.

Attorneys who support the government's lawsuit say the state didn't offer enough and has "tens of thousands of errors" in its election roll.

"The state hasn't provided anything," Hartman said. "Well, sort of. Now the question becomes more, why is the state government election administration entitled to information that the federal election administration is not entitled to that same information? That's already been disclosed from the voter."

In court, the state also argued the DOJ does not have oversight of elections and isn't an auditor.

"That is not their role. If Congress wants to make the DOJ an auditor, then go through the federal government. Let's debate that in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and you know we'll comply with that," DeMarinis added.

Attorneys in support of the DOJ say 21 other states have already turned over the records, and Maryland should do the same.

"It's incumbent upon the federal government to use their investigative powers to actually make sure that the states are following the law, and interesting, the ones that you would think that the ones that come forward are probably following the law," Hartman added.

The judge said she will file an opinion soon, but did not give a timeline on when she will make a decision about the motion to dismiss.