The Justice Department filed lawsuits on Sept. 25, against California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania for allegedly failing to provide their statewide voter registration lists as required under federal law.
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in announcing the lawsuits. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure — states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the department’s Civil Rights Division said the lawsuits are intended to enforce long-standing federal election laws.
“States are required to safeguard American elections by complying with our federal elections laws,” Dhillon said. “Clean voter rolls protect American citizens from voting fraud and abuse, and restore their confidence that their states’ elections are conducted properly, with integrity, and in compliance with the law.”
According to the Justice Department, Congress gave the Attorney General specific authority to enforce the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, as well as provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which allow the federal government to demand production and inspection of statewide voter registration lists.
Though Texas is not among the six states being sued, local election integrity work is already underway. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating dozens of alleged noncitizen voters, reflecting the broader national tension over voter registration oversight.
The lawsuits were filed in federal courts in each of the six states on Sept. 25. Officials did not specify potential penalties.