The Justice Department filed lawsuits against three states and Washington, D.C. on Thursday after they failed to submit voting data to the Trump administration.
Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, and the District of Columbia are facing legal action as part of the White House’s effort to gather this information.
From The Associated Press:
The latest lawsuits were filed against Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia and the District of Columbia. The Justice Department has now filed 22 lawsuits seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country.
“We shared our nation-leading list maintenance practices and public voter roll data with the DOJ December 8 at their request, and we look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement. “Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protect voters’ privacy.”
The latest round comes one week after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted against the Justice Department’s request for the data. Both Republican and Democratic commissioners voiced concerns about the request last week, saying it would be illegal under Wisconsin law to provide the voter roll information that includes the full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver’s license numbers of voters.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said the Justice Department should be “serving the interests of the American people, not chasing conspiracy theories.”
“As has been demonstrated over and over and over again, Wisconsin’s elections are fair and conducted with integrity,” Kaul said.
DOJ sues Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger for voting records https://t.co/N9gTdlssRO
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) December 19, 2025
The Trump administration requested the data to address “vote dilution” and to clean up voter rolls. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon argued that the administration needs full, unredacted voter data to enforce federal election integrity laws. Identifying ineligible or duplicate registrants is essential for ensuring “accurate voter lists” so that “every vote counts equally,” she said.
The Justice Department has already shared data that other states have provided with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has run it through the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to find illegal immigrants.
NEW🔥: The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to obtain access to the state’s voter rolls.
— Melissa Hallman (@dotconnectinga) December 19, 2025
The department stated that the information provided by Raffensperger’s office omitted required details, such as voters’… pic.twitter.com/fNbtiKETwk
Critics argue that the administration’s demands are not intended to ensure election integrity but to build a national voter database. They accuse the White House of planning to use the data to purge voters from the rolls and to claim Democratic-leaning states have corrupt or bloated lists.
Others have warned that centralizing this data, which includes partial Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, could open the door to data breaches and targeted suppression. They point out that the administration is primarily suing Democrat and swing states over the matter.