The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed lawsuits against the states of Oregon and Maine and their Secretaries of State for failing to provide information relating to voter roll records.
According to the lawsuit against Oregon, the state violated federal law by “refusing to produce the current unredacted electronic copy of the state’s voter registration list, to provide information on the state’s voter list maintenance program, and to disclose registration information for any ineligible voters,” while the lawsuit against Maine alleges the state violated the law by refusing to provide information “regarding the removal of ineligible individuals and to produce an unredacted, computerized state voter registration list.”
“States simply cannot pick and choose which federal laws they will comply with, including our voting laws, which ensure that all American citizens have equal access to the ballot in federal elections,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “American citizens have a right to feel confident in the integrity of our electoral process, and the refusal of certain states to protect their citizens against vote dilution will result in legal consequences.”
A similar lawsuit was filed in June against Orange County Registrar of Voters Robert Page after he refused to provide records regarding the removal of non-citizens from voter rolls.
The lawsuits come as part of the DOJ’s crackdown on voter registrations in an effort to uphold federal law. The Trump DOJ pledged to ensure that each state has clean voter rolls and will challenge efforts that aim to suppress election integrity. “We are attacking illegal race-based gerrymandering, and we are protecting ballot access for all Americans,” Dhillon said in August.
