Celebrate Court Rejecting DOJ's Voter Roll Grab In WA

A federal judge in Washington has rejected the Justice Department’s effort to obtain the state’s complete, unredacted voter-registration database, adding another loss to a series of federal court decisions involving DOJ’s nationwide voter-data grabs.

The Justice Department sued Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs after his office declined to provide confidential information from the state’s voter file. Washington instead offered a redacted version that excluded information protected under state law, including sensitive identifying data. 

U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson dismissed the case with prejudice, rejecting DOJ’s argument that Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 authorized the department to demand Washington’s complete statewide voter database.

According to the ruling, Evanson concluded that Washington’s continuously maintained voter database was not the type of election record covered by the federal provision DOJ relied upon. The decision follows numerous district-court rulings rejecting similar DOJ efforts; just days earlier, a Vermont court had produced the DOJ’s 24th such loss. 

Add your name to celebrate the court ruling rejecting DOJ’s demand for Washington’s unredacted voter-registration data and keeping voters’ sensitive personal information from being disclosed!