Judges in Maine and Wisconsin dismiss Justice Department’s attempts to force turnover of voter rolls
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Justice Department seeking to force states to release detailed voter registration information.
U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin said the state’s voter registration list is not a record that can be requested under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, as President Donald Trump’s administration has claimed. In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker called the government’s claim “half-hearted” and granted the state’s motion to deny the request.
The decisions were the latest in a series of defeats by the Trump administration in its attempts to coerce states. transfer voter rolls. In addition to Maine and Wisconsin, judges rejected similar initiatives. Arizona, California, massachusetts, Michigan, oregon And Rhode IslandInside GeorgiaA judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit because it was filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile elsewhere.
The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia in an attempt to force the release of detailed voter data. It includes information such as birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
Bianca Shaw, Wisconsin state director for Common Cause, called the ruling “a major victory for voter privacy and a rejection of the limits of federal jurisdiction.”
“The decision ensures that voters are protected from an unauthorized national database that could be a gold mine for hackers and a tool of intimidation,” he said in a statement. “Our elections are safe and secure and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Democrat and Trump rival The person running for governor said the decision confirms that states, not the federal government, are responsible for elections and voting. Trump administration called voter data in Maine and elsewhere since last year.
“Let me be clear; Trump and the Department of Justice can continue to interfere with free and fair elections conducted by states. We will not allow them,” Bellows said in a statement.
Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the rulings or a possible appeal.
In Wisconsin, Common Cause, Wisconsin Alliance of Retired Americans, Forward Latino and three voters intervened in a lawsuit challenging the government’s attempts to obtain the state’s voter rolls.
Doug Poland, litigation director at Wisconsin-based liberal law firm Law Forward, called the Trump administration’s moves “thinly disguised efforts to manipulate and subvert future elections.”
“The court recognized this as an illegal attempt to collect and weaponize data on Americans, dressed up in the language of voting rights enforcement,” he said.
Judge Walker, appointed by Trump, ruled that the responsibility for administering elections in Maine lies with the states.
“Under our Constitution, the states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal offices unless Congress enacts a law preempting that framework,” Walker said. he wrote.
Pederson, the Wisconsin judge, was an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
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Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.
