(Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday that it had filed lawsuits against California, New York, and four other states for not providing their voter registration lists to the department.
“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,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania are the other states sued by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, according to the statement.
The Justice Department cited laws that it said allow the attorney general to demand statewide voter registration lists and to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs.
The Civil Rights Division has, in the last several months, sent requests for voter registration-related information to at least 24 states, including requesting a complete list of all registered voters from at least 22 states.
Last week, the Justice Department sued Oregon and Maine over what it described as their failure to provide information regarding voter list maintenance procedures and electronic copies of statewide voter registration lists.
Reuters reported this month that the Justice Department is in talks with Homeland Security Investigations about transferring the sensitive voter roll data for use in criminal and immigration-related investigations.
Legal experts have raised privacy concerns about the federal government’s demands for voter information and its possible disclosure to HSI.
President Donald Trump and his allies have for years spread unfounded claims that immigrants living illegally in the United States are voting in large numbers. Numerous studies have found election fraud to be extremely rare in the United States.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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