Portland, Maine — Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits brought by the US Department of Justice seeking to force states to hand over 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 1960 Civil Rights Act, as President Donald Trump’s administration has argued. In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker called the government’s claim “half-hearted” and granted the state’s motion to dismiss it.
These rulings were the latest in a series of defeats suffered by the Trump administration in its attempts to coerce states To deliver voter lists. In addition to the states of Maine and Wisconsin, judges rejected similar attempts Arizona, ca, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and rhode islandin GeorgiaA judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit because it was filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile it elsewhere.
The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force the release of detailed voter data. It includes information such as dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.
Bianca Shaw, Wisconsin state director for Common Cause, called the ruling “a massive victory for voter privacy and a rejection of federal overreach.”
“The decision ensures that voters are protected from an unauthorized national database that would have served as a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation,” she said in a statement. “Our elections remain safe, secure, and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong.”
Maine Secretary of State Sheena Bellows, D-Md Trump’s opponent The ruling confirms that states, not the federal government, are responsible for elections and voting, said who is running for governor. The Trump administration has sought to Voter data Since last year in Maine and elsewhere.
“Let me be clear — Trump and the Department of Justice may continue to attempt to interfere in free and fair state elections. We will not let them do that,” Bellows said in a statement.
Officials at the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the rulings or potential appeal.
In Wisconsin, Common Cause, the Wisconsin Coalition of Retired Americans, Progressive Latinos and three electors in the case intervened to oppose government attempts to obtain the state’s voter rolls.
Doug Poland, director of litigation at Law Forward, a liberal law firm based in Wisconsin, called the Trump administration’s moves “disguised efforts to manipulate and subvert future elections.”
“The court recognized this as an illegal attempt to collect data on Americans and use it as a weapon, under the guise of enforcing voting rights,” he said.
Judge Walker, a Trump appointee, ruled in Maine that the responsibility for administering elections lies with the states.
“Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal office, unless Congress passes legislation preempting that framework,” Walker wrote.
Pederson, a judge in Wisconsin, was an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
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Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.