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Washington state hands Trump DOJ its 25th straight voter roll loss
Democracy Docket • • nation
Key Points:
- A federal judge in Washington dismissed the Department of Justice's (DOJ) lawsuit demanding unredacted voter registration data, marking the DOJ's 25th consecutive loss in similar cases nationwide.
- Judge Kymberly Evanson ruled that DOJ's demand violates federal law, rejecting the interpretation of the Civil Rights Act that DOJ relied on to compel states to provide full voter files containing sensitive information.
- The DOJ sued Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs after he refused to provide unredacted voter data, but the court upheld the state's right to protect confidential voter information under state law.
- The ruling emphasized that Washington's voter database is continuously maintained by state officials, making it exempt from DOJ's demand under the Civil Rights Act's provisions; the case was dismissed with prejudice.
- DOJ has appealed many of its losses, with significant pending appeals in the 9th Circuit involving California and Oregon cases that could impact other related lawsuits; only three district court cases remain active in Delaware, Georgia, and Utah.
