The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Tuesday that it has filed federal lawsuits against six additional states, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, for refusing to hand over their statewide voter registration lists, as required under federal law.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who has taken a dramatically tougher posture on election transparency than her predecessors, called the states’ stonewalling a direct threat to clean elections.
“Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
“The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon, who has led the most aggressive election-integrity enforcement push in modern DOJ history, went further, accusing noncompliant states of actively undermining public trust.
“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”
This latest wave of lawsuits brings the total number of states now facing DOJ litigation to fourteen.
WATCH:
Good news for America—the @CivilRights Division and @TheJusticeDept has now sued 14 states for unlawfully withholding voter rolls, and we will continue our work enforcing our federal elections laws throughout the nation! pic.twitter.com/6cQMLIdO5P
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) December 4, 2025
Dhillon dismantled the excuses states have offered to avoid handing over their voter rolls—calling them baseless, nonsensical, and politically motivated.
Harmeet Dhillon:
“Mainly, they’re arguing privacy or that the reason the DOJ has given for this information isn’t the real reason. They always have some silly conspiracy theory going, but actually don’t have to give a reason. Under the federal laws that we’ve cited, we’re entitled to this information. The states don’t get to go back and forth with us.One of the dumbest reasons that I hear put up is, ‘Oh, the Social Security number is confidential.’ Well, how can it be confidential from the federal government that issues the Social Security numbers? That’s really silly.
The other thing that people should know is that almost all of the states that are using this argument voluntarily hand over their voter roll to nonprofit and NGO groups. ERIC is one of them. So what’s the privacy concern? If you’re willing to give it to some nonprofit that benefits your political agenda, why aren’t you going to give it to the United States?
So we are not going to be deterred by these reasons. That is why so many states are actually falling into line. They realize that it would be a waste of tax dollars to fight these efforts. And ultimately, what we’re trying to do is help all of the states do their jobs better.
Each of these states is required to keep clean voter rolls. They’re not doing it, for the most part. This is red states and blue states. I’m sorry to say we did get some resistance from both sides, but we’re just here to help. So we’re going to compare data, we’re going to help eliminate duplicates, help them root out fraud, and get people off the voter rolls who shouldn’t be there. And then it’s really up to the states, again, to continue to maintain that. It’s theirs.”
WATCH:
Ultimately, @CivilRights under @AGPamBondi wants to help all the states do their jobs better and give American citizens the clean voter rolls they are entitled to! pic.twitter.com/hBYxD4DGgl
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) December 4, 2025
The DOJ lawsuits cite a triad of federal laws that require voter roll transparency:
1. National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)
Requires states to maintain accurate, updated voter lists and provide them upon request.
2. Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
Ensures states operate modern, secure voter registration systems—systems that cannot be evaluated without federal oversight.
3. Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA)
Authorizes the DOJ to inspect and copy voter registration lists and related election records.
The 14 states that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued for refusing to provide their full, statewide voter registration files are:
- California
- Delaware
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Washington
Read the full article here