DOJ Sues Six States Over Unredacted Voter Registration Data

The United States Department of Justice filed lawsuits on December 2, 2025, against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington for refusing to provide statewide voter registration data. This legal action expands a broader campaign by the Trump administration, bringing the total number of states sued for similar refusals to 14, including California, New York, and Pennsylvania. The department is seeking unredacted records containing full dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon argue that the requests are necessary for election integrity and voter roll maintenance under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act. They contend that federal statutes supersede state privacy laws during federal investigations.

State officials, including Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore, have resisted the demands, citing state privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution. Opponents, such as Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, characterized the lawsuits as a weaponization of the DOJ. Critics and Democratic officials expressed concern that the data would be shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop a citizenship verification tool to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.