The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against four additional states as part of the Trump administration’s bid to obtain sensitive voter information, bringing the total number of states sued to 18. The latest targets are Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada; the DOJ also sued Fulton County, Ga., seeking records from the 2020 election.
For months, the Justice Department has demanded full, unredacted voter registration lists from multiple states — including driver’s license numbers and portions of Social Security numbers — saying it needs the data to verify compliance with federal laws that require accurate voter rolls. Most states have refused, citing privacy protections for voters.
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. Dhillon has also highlighted recent use of a citizenship lookup tool housed in the Department of Homeland Security to review voter records.
The Fulton County lawsuit seeks all ballots and related records from the 2020 election that Donald Trump lost in Georgia. Fulton County has been the focus of repeated, unsubstantiated claims by Trump and his allies that the 2020 results were fraudulent. The DOJ action follows the recent dismissal of a high-profile election-interference case that had been brought by Fulton County prosecutors.
Colorado officials pushed back strongly. Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat and candidate for attorney general, said she will not hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voting information and vowed to defend the state in court. The DOJ’s suit against Colorado comes days after Trump announced a pardon for 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 her conviction was at the state level and state pardoning power rests with the governor.
The Justice Department has also opened a review of conditions in Colorado prisons. With reporting by NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang and Benjamin Swasey.