Pam Bondi’s DOJ sues California, New York and 4 other states for refusing to hand over sensitive voter information

The Department of Justice filed lawsuits against six states on Thursday because they refused to give private voter registration data that includes sensitive personal information. California, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania were sued in federal courts after they said no to handing over complete voter rolls with birth dates, names, partial Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers.

Attorney General Pam Bondi stood by the legal action in a statement. She said “Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections. Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure – states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”

According to The Hill, the lawsuits came on the same day that former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury. The timing of both announcements has raised questions because President Trump has been publicly pushing Bondi and others in the department to go after his political enemies. Comey faces charges of lying to Congress and blocking justice related to his 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

States push back against federal demands

The states being sued have strongly opposed the DOJ’s requests. They say that state and federal laws protect voter privacy. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office had been clear with the DOJ that “state and federal law do not allow our office to provide them with private voter data unless they provide information about how the information will be used and secured.” Simon said the DOJ stayed quiet about data protection steps before filing the lawsuit.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said her agency gave the public version of the voter file but refused to hand over private information of more than 8 million residents because it is protected by law. She called the action an “illegal and unconstitutional power grab” and said the department would not explain why it wants the information.

The DOJ had already sued Maine and Oregon earlier this month for the same reasons. According to an Associated Press count, the Justice Department has asked at least 26 states for voter registration rolls in recent months. The department says that states are breaking the National Voter Registration Act and other federal laws by not giving complete voter information.

All eight states now being sued are led by Democratic governors except for New Hampshire, which has a Republican governor. Election officials from many states have said they are worried about how unusual these requests are and the lack of constitutional power for the DOJ to run elections, since that power belongs to states and Congress. The lawsuits show another case of the Trump administration using legal action against states that go against its policies.