Justice Department sues 5 more states in push for voter data
FILE-Voters make selections at their voting booths inside an early voting site on October 17, 2024 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
The Department of Justice has filed new lawsuits against five additional states as part of its ongoing request to obtain voter data from states nationwide that can be shared with the Trump administration.
With this latest legal action, the agency has now sued over two dozen states to access voter files; most of the states are controlled by Democrats.
Which states are now being sued by the DOJ?
Local perspective:
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced on Feb. 26 that it filed federal lawsuits against five states — Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey.
Four of the states in the lawsuit, Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia, supported President Donald Trump in 2020 and 2024.
RELATED: DOJ sues additional states for not handing over voter data
What they're saying:
"Accurate, well-maintained voter rolls are a requisite for the election integrity that the American people deserve," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement in a DOJ release. "This latest series of litigation underscores that This Department of Justice is fulfilling its duty to ensure transparency, voter roll maintenance, and secure elections across the country."
FOX News reported that the agency claims that states are in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which states that the attorney general can request voter records from election officials, but state officials argued that the Department of Justice is seeking an escalation of the Trump administration’s broader attempts to get involved in state election proceedings.
Although access to election information is different in each state, election officials typically release redacted versions of their voter rolls to the public and government agencies, Politico reported.
States respond to new Justice Department lawsuit
The other side:
Several state officials have responded to the Justice Department’s latest lawsuit with statements that were obtained by Politico.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said in a statement to Politico "Neither state nor federal law entitles the Department of Justice to collect private information on law-abiding American citizens. Utahns can be assured that my office will always follow the Constitution and the law, protect voters’ rights, and administer free and fair elections."
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams also criticized the lawsuit, saying in a statement to Politico that the state’s elections were "a national success story."
RELATED: DOJ suing Oregon and Maine as it seeks voter data in multiple states
"Kentucky law protects voters’ personal information, and I will not voluntarily commit a data breach by providing Kentuckians’ personal data to the federal bureaucracy unless a court order tells me to," Adams said in a statement to Politico.
West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner’s office said it had not yet been served with a lawsuit from the DOJ.
"Regardless, I think Secretary Warner’s comments to the DOJ were pretty clear. Bring it on! The federal government is not going to get any personal information on West Virginia voters as long as Kris Warner is Secretary of State," spokesperson Mike Queen said in a statement to Politico.
DOJ files lawsuits against states for voter data
The backstory:
In 2025, the Department of Justice filed multiple lawsuits against states to obtain its voting data. On Sept. 18, 2025, the agency sued Oregon and Maine because the states failed to submit voter registration lists.
And a week later, the DOJ filed lawsuits against California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania on Sept. 26, 2025, with agency officials accusing the states of not responding adequately to inquiries about how they maintain their voter data.
A few months later, on Dec. 3, 2025, the Justice Department sued Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington State over their "failure" to provide statewide voter registration data.
Last year, approximately 10 Democratic secretaries of state requested that the Trump administration provide more information about its attempts to gain statewide voter registration lists.
The AP noted that the secretaries of state referenced worries that federal agencies allegedly misinformed them and could use the data to verify U.S. citizenship.
Has the DOJ received voter data from other states?
Why you should care:
Some states have spurned or objected to the voter registration data requests, citing their own state laws or the Justice Department’s negligence to meet federal Privacy Act obligations. Federal officials have followed up by sending additional letters demanding the voter data on short deadlines.
Meanwhile, several states have sent redacted versions of their voter lists that are available to the public, but the DOJ has demanded copies that contain personal information like voter names, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by a Department of Justice release, FOX News, Politico, which obtained statements from states about the lawsuits, and previous FOX Local reporting. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.