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The DOJ has announced new lawsuits targeting four states for refusing to provide voter registration data and election records.

Getting into it: The DOJ made the announcement Friday, confirming that it had filed federal lawsuits against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada, accusing each state of unlawfully withholding voter registration data. Specifically, the Justice Department is demanding access to detailed voter lists, including information such as citizenship status, names, birth dates, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. DOJ officials argue that under federal statutes like the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, states are obligated to maintain accurate voter rolls and make them available for inspection to ensure electoral integrity and prevent vote dilution.

Despite this, state officials have pushed back strongly, arguing that releasing such detailed voter data would violate privacy laws and expose personally identifiable information. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold stated that the federal government has no legal right to the data and vowed to fight the lawsuit. Other states have echoed similar concerns, with some claiming they have already provided public voter data but are being unfairly targeted for not releasing confidential records.

The DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet Dhillon, has argued that the department has both the legal authority and the duty to investigate how voter rolls are maintained and to verify whether states are adhering to the law.

In a parallel action, the DOJ also filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia, seeking access to election materials from the 2020 presidential election. The department is requesting all used and void ballots, ballot stubs, signature envelopes, and related digital files to examine the county’s compliance with federal election law. This comes after Fulton County officials allegedly failed to respond to a DOJ subpoena issued in October.