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DOJ Sues Oregon and Maine Over Refusal to Provide Unredacted Voter Rolls

Federal lawyers say voting laws entitle them to unredacted statewide voter lists that the two states withheld on privacy grounds.

FILE - The Department of Justice seal is seen during a news conference at the DOJ office in Washington, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
PORTLAND, ME - NOVEMBER 8: Voters fill out their ballots in the patriotic voting booths at Merrill Auditorium with a hour and 20 minutes to go before the polls close. (Photo by Brianna Soukup/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
FILE - A Super Tuesday voter walks past a sign requiring a photo ID at a polling location, March 5, 2024, in Mount Holly, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)
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Overview

  • The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed lawsuits on Sept. 16 against Oregon and Maine, naming Secretaries of State Tobias Read and Shenna Bellows.
  • The suits allege violations of the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
  • DOJ says both states denied unredacted electronic voter lists and list‑maintenance records to the department while providing the same information to a private organization.
  • The Oregon complaint cites refusals to produce the current unredacted voter list, details of list‑maintenance procedures, and information on ineligible registrants, while the Maine complaint focuses on data about removals of ineligible individuals and an unredacted computerized voter file.
  • Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon warned that states cannot pick which federal voting laws to follow, as Bellows defended Maine’s stance by invoking privacy protections and calling the request a fishing expedition.