The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits against five states, including New Jersey, on Feb. 26, alleging the states failed to comply with federal requests to provide voter registration records.
The lawsuit seeks to force the state to turn over voter information, including names, addresses, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
“Accurate, well-maintained voter rolls are a requisite for the election integrity that the American people deserve,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a DOJ press release. “This latest series of litigation underscores that This Department of Justice is fulfilling its duty to ensure transparency, voter roll maintenance, and secure elections across the country.”
The DOJ said the Civil Rights Act of 1960 gives the attorney general “broad authority” to request election records. The lawsuit also cites the National Voter Registration Act and Title III of the Help America Vote Act.
New Jersey officials, however, dispute the federal government’s legal claims and said the request goes beyond what federal law allows.
“As several courts have already held, the Department of Justice’s request for voters’ personal information…is lawless,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement posted to Instagram. “We are committed to protecting the privacy of our state’s residents, and we will defend against this lawsuit in court.”
Civil rights groups have also condemned the lawsuit. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that releasing unredacted voting records could cause privacy threats and potentially be used to disenfranchise voters.
“This lawsuit is the latest attack on our democracy by the Trump administration in its effort to undermine free and fair elections,” ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said in a press release. “Elections, and thus voter information, are administered by states, and the Trump administration’s attempt to obtain New Jersey’s full, unredacted voter file is an unconstitutional and unlawful overreach and a brazen abuse of power.”
Similar lawsuits filed by the DOJ in other states have already faced setbacks. A federal judge in Michigan dismissed a comparable case, ruling that the federal statutes cited by the government do not authorize access to unredacted voter records.
In a January ruling, U.S. District Judge David Carter of the Central District of California, Southern Division, said “the DOJ’s request for the sensitive information of Californians stands to have a chilling effect on American citizens like political minority groups and working-class immigrants who may consider not registering to vote or skip casting a ballot because they are worried about how their information will be used.”
In addition to New Jersey, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia were sued by the DOJ on Feb. 26.
In total, the Trump administration has sued 29 states and the District of Columbia for voters’ data. Offers by some states to provide public voter registration lists with sensitive information redacted have been denied.
Megan Pitt is the head editor of The Setonian’s News section. She can be reached at megan.pitt@student.shu.edu.
