The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against four additional states and one Georgia county as part of its push to obtain sensitive voter information, bringing the total number of states sued to 18. The latest targets — Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada — were announced Friday; the DOJ also sued Fulton County, Ga., seeking ballots and other records from the 2020 election.
For months, the department has demanded complete, unredacted voter registration lists from multiple states, including driver’s license numbers and portions of Social Security numbers. In court filings, the DOJ says it needs those data to verify that states are complying with federal laws requiring accurate voter rolls. Most states have refused to provide the records, citing privacy protections and state law limits on disclosure.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said the department will not allow states to “jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections” by declining to follow federal election laws. In recent days Dhillon has highlighted the number of voter records processed through a citizenship lookup tool housed at the Department of Homeland Security.
The Fulton County suit seeks all ballots and records from the 2020 election — which President Trump lost — and comes after county prosecutors’ high-profile election-interference case against Trump and allies was dismissed last month. Fulton County has been a frequent focus of unfounded claims that the 2020 results were rigged.
Colorado officials have pushed back. Secretary of State Jena Griswold said she will not hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voting information and pledged to defend the state in court. The DOJ’s lawsuit against Colorado coincides with President Trump’s announcement that he is pardoning Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk serving a nine-year sentence for granting unauthorized access to voting equipment; the pardon appears largely symbolic because Peters was convicted on state charges and state pardons are issued by governors. The Justice Department also recently announced a review of conditions in Colorado prisons.
With reporting by NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang and Benjamin Swasey.