Federal courts in Maine and Wisconsin have dismissed lawsuits initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice, which sought to compel these states to release comprehensive voter registration details. This marks another setback for the Trump administration’s endeavors to acquire such information.
In Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge James Pederson determined that the state’s voter registration roster does not qualify as a record obtainable under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, as the administration had argued. Concurrently, in Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker characterized the federal government’s claim as ‘half-hearted’ and approved the state’s motion to dismiss the case.
These judicial decisions align with a series of previous rulings against the Trump administration’s efforts to obtain state voter rolls. Similar attempts have been rebuffed by judges in several other states, including Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, and Rhode Island. In Georgia, a DOJ lawsuit was initially dismissed due to incorrect filing location, necessitating a refiling.
The Department of Justice has pursued legal action against at least 30 states and the District of Columbia, aiming to procure detailed voter data. This information typically encompasses birth dates, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.
Bianca Shaw, the state director for Common Cause Wisconsin, hailed the ruling as ‘a significant triumph for voter privacy and a rebuke of federal overreach.’ She added that the decision safeguards voters from an ‘unauthorized national database’ that could have been exploited by hackers and used for intimidation, affirming the safety and security of elections under local control.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat running for governor and an opponent of Trump, stated that the ruling reinforces states’ authority over elections, not the federal government’s. She emphasized her commitment to resisting federal interference in free and fair elections, noting the administration’s persistent pursuit of voter data since the previous year.
Officials from the Justice Department have not yet responded to inquiries regarding the rulings or potential appeals. In Wisconsin, Common Cause, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, Forward Latino, and three individual voters actively opposed the government’s attempts to acquire the state’s voter rolls.
Doug Poland, Director of Litigation for Law Forward, a liberal law firm based in Wisconsin, described the Trump administration’s actions as ‘thinly-masked efforts to manipulate and subvert future elections.’ He further commented that the court recognized these as ‘illegal attempts to gather and weaponize data on Americans, disguised as voting rights enforcement.’
Judge Walker, a Trump appointee, underscored in his Maine ruling that the responsibility for managing elections rests with the states. He wrote, ‘Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal office, unless Congress passes legislation that preempts that framework.’ Judge Pederson, the Wisconsin judge, was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
