Overview

• On June 25, the Justice Department sued Orange County Registrar Robert Page in federal court for failing to produce unredacted removal records under the Help America Vote Act and National Voter Registration Act.
• Orange County provided documents dating back to January 2020 with sensitive data redacted under state privacy statutes, omitting Social Security and driver’s license numbers, voter ID numbers, language preferences and signature images.
• The county reported removing 17 non-citizens from its voter rolls over a five-year period, 16 of whom self-reported their ineligibility and one who was flagged by the district attorney’s office.
• County lawyers proposed a confidentiality agreement to govern federal access to the unredacted files, but the Justice Department declined and insists federal law overrides state restrictions.
• The lawsuit marks a key test of the Trump administration’s voter integrity agenda and raises questions about the balance between federal oversight and state election privacy rules.