Judge Dismisses DOJ Suit for Voter Data02/11 06:07

   

   LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the 
Department of Justice that sought to obtain Michigan's voter rolls, marking the 
latest judicial rejection in President Donald Trump's wide-ranging attempts to 
gain access to voter data from states.

   The Justice Department has sued at least 23 states and the District of 
Columbia in its effort to obtain detailed voter information. In an opinion 
issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou, a Trump nominee, said the 
laws cited by the Justice Department in its complaint, including the Civil 
Rights Act of 1960, do not require the disclosure of the records it sought.

   The Justice Department has said it is seeking the data as part of an effort 
to ensure election security, but Democratic officials, including Michigan 
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, say the demand violates state and federal 
privacy laws. Election officials have raised concerns that federal officials 
are trying to use the sensitive data for other purposes, such as searching for 
potential noncitizens on the rolls.

   Elections in the United States are administered at the state and local 
level, where individual voter information is kept.

   Natalie Baldassarre, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, declined to 
comment when reached by email and did not say whether the department will 
appeal the decision.

   In July, the Justice Department requested voter records from the state of 
Michigan, including a copy of Michigan's unredacted voter registration list. In 
September, Michigan officials said the state would only share public voter 
registration information, which does not include identifying information such 
as birth dates, addresses and partial Social Security numbers, prompting the 
federal lawsuit.

   "Today's decision affirms that the law is on our side," Benson said in a 
statement Tuesday.

   The Justice Department argued in court documents that the information was 
necessary to ensure Michigan was properly maintaining voter registrations, and 
cited three federal laws: the Civil Rights Act of 1960, National Voter 
Registration Act of 1993 and the Help America Vote act of 2022.

   The three laws, "do not allow the United States to obtain the records at 
issue in this case," Jarbou wrote in her opinion.

   Federal judges have also dismissed similar lawsuits in Oregon and 
California. A federal judge in Georgia recently dismissed a similar suit after 
ruling the federal government had sued in the wrong city.