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The US Justice Department sued three states and District of Columbia On Thursday for not submitting the requested voter information. trump Administration.
The latest lawsuits were filed against Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia and District of Columbia. The Justice Department has now filed 22 lawsuits seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country.
Georgia’s Secretary of State said, “We shared our nation-leading list maintenance practices and public voter list data with the DOJ on December 8 at their request, and we look forward to working together to eliminate federal barriers that also prevent clean voter rolls.” brad raffensperger Said in a statement. “Hard-working Georgians can rest easy knowing that this data was shared in strict accordance with state law protecting voter privacy.”
The latest round comes a week after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted against the Justice Department’s request for the data. Both Republican and Democratic commissioners expressed concern about the request last week, saying it would be illegal under Wisconsin law to provide voter list information that includes voters’ full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver’s license numbers.
Spokespeople for the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the state Justice Department, which will defend the commission, did not immediately respond to messages. The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment.
An Associated Press tally found that the Justice Department has asked for voter registration rolls from at least 26 states in recent months, and in many cases has asked states for information on how they maintain their voter rolls. Other states sued by the Justice Department include California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Last week, the Justice Department sued Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada.
The Justice Department said 10 states are either in full compliance or working toward it.
The Trump administration has described the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure election security, and the Justice Department says states are violating federal law by refusing to provide voter rolls and information about ineligible voters.
The lawsuits have raised concerns among some Democratic officials and others, who question how the data will be used, and whether the department will follow privacy laws to protect the information. Some of the data sought includes name, date of birth, residential address, driver’s license number and partial Social Security number.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. “The law is clear: states need to give us this information so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from voter dilution,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Today’s filing shows that regardless of which party is in charge of a particular state, the Justice Department will continue to stand firmly on the side of election integrity and transparency.”
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Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta and John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois contributed to this report.