DOJ sues WA secretary of state to demand voter data

The Trump administration has filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to compel the state to turn over information about Washington voters, including names, dates of birth, addresses and either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number as part of the White House’s crackdown on electoral systems around the country.

The Department of Justice announced similar lawsuits Tuesday against election officials in Maryland, Delaware, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.

According to the lawsuit, the DOJ is tasked with ensuring that states maintain proper voter registration and voter list maintenance programs. The lawsuits claim that under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, Attorney General Pam Bondi can demand the production, inspection and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists.

“Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,” Bondi said in a statement Monday. “The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”

The Secretary of State’s office has not formally responded to the lawsuit in court. Following a ceremony Tuesday to certify the results of the November election, Hobbs told reporters that he had yet to be served.

“I heard about this from the news media,” Hobbs said. “But I have not been served.”

Hobbs added that “nothing’s changed,” and that he would still not turn over the requested data.

“Because state law prohibits me from doing that, and federal law prohibits me from doing that,” Hobbs said.

Hobbs said his office would be willing to work with the Department of Justice to hand over information without personal information, but “I have had no response from them.”

In a September letter, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon told Hobbs that the request was part of the federal government’s probe into “ineligible voter entities.”

Hobbs said his office asked Dhillon what they planned to do with the data and did not receive a response.

Hobbs has resisted the request, contending that the information requested is considered protected under state law, saying in September that as the state’s chief election official, “it is my responsibility to ensure the election process is safe, secure and transparent.”

The lawsuit, filed by the Department of Justice on Tuesday, seeks to order Hobbs to “produce the other documents demanded by the Attorney General to ascertain Defendant’s compliance with federal law.”

“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” Dhillon said in a statement Tuesday. “States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”

Gov. Bob Ferguson said Tuesday that if the Department of Justice were to file a lawsuit, “we’re very confident we’ll be successful in court.”

“As we are against the Trump administration almost every single time that we sue them in court, whether we’re on the offense, or whether in this case, they’re suing us,” Ferguson said. “But our success rate against the administration is very, very high, as you well know, and we’re confident that if they choose to sue us again, if this is real, then we’ll be successful.”