Overview

• Filed on Sept. 25, the lawsuits target California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania in federal courts seeking orders to compel disclosure, with most states led by Democrats and New Hampshire the exception.
• The Justice Department argues the National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act and Civil Rights Act of 1960 authorize production and inspection of statewide voter lists to assess list‑maintenance compliance.
• The requests seek nonpublic fields including full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, which DOJ says are necessary to evaluate state procedures.
• State officials say they provided only public files or declined outright under privacy laws, with Michigan’s Jocelyn Benson and Minnesota’s Steve Simon denouncing the demand and Pennsylvania’s Al Schmidt pledging to contest it.
• The new cases broaden a nationwide push that has reached at least 26 states and follow earlier suits against Oregon and Maine, as reports of potential data sharing with Homeland Security Investigations intensify privacy concerns.