The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has been actively pursuing voter registration list data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia over the past year. The department requests states to sign a “confidential memorandum of understanding” that would require sharing voter names, dates of birth, residential addresses, state driver’s licenses, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

After receiving the data, the DOJ says it will notify state officials of any "voter list maintenance issues, insufficiencies, inadequacies, deficiencies, anomalies, or concerns" identified through its analysis.

However, six Republican-leaning states—Idaho, Utah, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia—have refused to provide their data. Additionally, Iowa, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Tennessee have shared data without signing the confidentiality agreements.

The DOJ has filed lawsuits against secretaries of state, elections commissions, and boards of elections in more than 20 states, including Maine, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, D.C., Delaware, Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, Idaho, West Virginia, Utah, Kentucky, and New Jersey.

Despite these efforts, seven federal judges across seven states have dismissed the DOJ’s litigation, with one judge in Rhode Island labeling the effort a "fishing expedition." The DOJ has appealed three of these rulings. Lawsuits have been dismissed in California, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Oregon, Maine, and Wisconsin.

In North Dakota, the DOJ was reported to be in discussions with the state about supplying data as of last summer, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Sources