PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to force states to turn over detailed voter registration information.
U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin said the state’s voter registration list is not a record that can be requested under the 1960 Civil Rights Act, as President Donald Trump’s administration has argued. In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker called the government’s claim “half-hearted” and granted a state motion to dismiss it.
The rulings are the latest in a series of failed attempts by the Trump administration to force states to turn over their voter rolls. In addition to Maine and Wisconsin, judges in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Rhode Island have rejected similar attempts. A Georgia judge has dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit because it was filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile it elsewhere.
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia, seeking to force the release of detailed voter data. It includes information such as date of birth, address, driver’s license number and some Social Security numbers.
Bianca Shaw, director of Common Cause Wisconsin, called the ruling “a huge victory for voter privacy and a rejection of federal overreach.”
“This decision ensures voters are protected from an unauthorized national database that would become a gold mine for hackers and an intimidation tool,” she said in a statement. “Our elections remain safe and secure and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat and Trump opponent who is running for governor, said the ruling affirms that states, not the federal government, are responsible for elections and voting. The Trump administration has been seeking voter data in Maine and elsewhere since last year.
“Let me be clear — Trump and the Department of Justice may continue to attempt to interfere with free and fair elections held by states. We will not let them do that,” Bellows said in a statement.
Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling or a potential appeal.
In Wisconsin, Common Cause, the Wisconsin Alliance of Retired Americans, Forward Latinos and three voters intervened in the case to oppose the government’s attempt to obtain the state’s voter rolls.
Doug Polish, litigation director at the liberal Wisconsin-based law firm Law Forward, called the Trump administration’s move “a thinly veiled effort to manipulate and subvert future elections.”
“The court found this to be an unlawful attempt to collect and weaponize Americans’ data under the guise of enforcing voting rights,” he said.
Judge Walker, a Trump appointee, ruled in Maine that the responsibility for administering elections lies with the states.
“Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal offices unless Congress passes legislation to supersede that framework,” Walker wrote.
Wisconsin Judge Pederson was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
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Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.