Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to provide detailed voter registration information.
U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin ruled that the state’s voter registration list is not a record that can be requested under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, as argued by the Trump administration.
In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker described the government’s claim as “half-hearted” and granted a state motion to dismiss it.
These rulings are the latest in a series of defeats for the Trump administration in its efforts to force states to release voter rolls. Judges in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, and Rhode Island have similarly rejected attempts to compel the release of detailed voter data.
In Georgia, a judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit due to it being filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile elsewhere.
The Department of Justice has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia, seeking to obtain detailed voter information, including dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. Officials and advocacy groups have raised concerns that such data could pose a privacy risk to voters.
Bianca Shaw, state director of Common Cause Wisconsin, called the ruling “a massive victory for voter privacy and a rejection of federal overreach.” She said, “The decision ensures voters are protected from an unauthorized national database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation. Our elections remain safe, secure, and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat and Trump opponent who is running for governor, said the ruling affirms that states, not the federal government, are in charge of elections and voting.
She stated, “Let me be clear — Trump and the DOJ may continue to try to interfere with free and fair elections run by the states. We will not let them.” The Trump administration has sought this voter data in Maine and other states since last year.
Officials with the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the rulings or the possibility of an appeal.
In Wisconsin, Common Cause, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, Forward Latino, and three voters intervened in opposition to the government’s efforts to obtain the state’s voter rolls.
Doug Poland, director of litigation for Law Forward, a Wisconsin-based liberal law firm, called the Trump administration’s attempts “thinly-masked efforts to manipulate and subvert future elections.” He added, “The court recognized this as an illegal attempt to gather and weaponize data on Americans, dressed up in the language of voting rights enforcement.”
Judge Walker, a Trump appointee, ruled in Maine that responsibility for managing elections rests with the states. “Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal office, unless Congress passes legislation that preempts that framework,” he wrote. Pederson, the Wisconsin judge, was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
The dismissal of DOJ lawsuits in Maine and Wisconsin reinforces the principle that states control their own elections and voter registration systems.
These rulings, part of a broader pattern of judicial setbacks for the Trump administration, prevent the federal government from accessing sensitive voter data and protect voter privacy.
The decisions also highlight ongoing tensions between federal efforts to collect election data and state authority over election administration.
