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DOJ sued Oregon to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data

On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Oregon and Secretary of State Tobias Read, seeking to compel disclosure of the state's complete unredacted voter registration list, including birth dates, driver's-license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers, and alleging violations of the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The suit was part of a broader DOJ campaign that went on to demand voter data from dozens of states. A federal judge dismissed the Oregon suit on January 26, 2026, after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Minnesota's governor a letter suggesting the data would be used to advance the administration's immigration-enforcement agenda.

Part of: Trump DOJ Campaign to Collect State Voter Rolls

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Oregon

Abuses documented

Actors

On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Oregon and Secretary of State Tobias Read in federal court, seeking to compel the state to produce its complete unredacted voter registration list, list-maintenance records, and data on ineligible-voter registrations, including birth dates, driver's-license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the action, invoking the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 as authority to demand the records. DOJ filed a nearly identical suit against Maine the same day; Oregon and Maine were the first two states DOJ sued in a campaign that went on to demand unredacted voter data from dozens of states nationwide, including a six-state suit filed the following week.

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, a Democrat, said "if the President wants to use the DOJ to go after his political opponents and undermine our elections, I look forward to seeing them in court," and pledged to defend the state's voter data. Election administration is a power the Constitution's Elections Clause assigns primarily to the states, and Oregon argued federal voting law does not require states to hand over unredacted, individually identifiable voter data to the federal government.

Updates

2026-01-26 — Federal judge dismissed DOJ's lawsuit against Oregon [3, 4]

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai dismissed DOJ's suit against Oregon in full, after ordering both sides to address how a letter Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Minnesota's governor — asking the state to hand over voter rolls to "help bring back law and order" amid intensified federal immigration enforcement — related to DOJ's demand on Oregon. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the ruling meant "the federal government never met the legal standard to get these records in the first place"; Secretary Read said Oregon "ran into a brick wall" and would not turn over private voter data.

2026-05-19 — Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on DOJ's appeal [5]

A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel — with judges appointed by Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden — heard oral arguments on DOJ's appeal of the dismissal. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield argued the specific unredacted, statewide voter list DOJ demands "does not exist" as a standalone document. No ruling had been issued as of this review.

Why we recorded this

States administer their own elections and voter rolls under the Constitution's Elections Clause, and voters who register expect their sensitive data — birth dates, driver's-license numbers, partial Social Security numbers — will not be swept into an unauthorized federal file. DOJ's suit sought exactly that data from Oregon, over the state's refusal, invoking a Civil Rights Act of 1960 theory federal courts have repeatedly rejected. This archive records the federal government's attempt to compel disclosure of sensitive personal voter data as improper collection beyond DOJ's lawful need, and the suit's later dismissal as a check on that overreach.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Sues Oregon and Maine for Failure to Provide Voter Registration Rolls — U.S. Department of Justice primary accessed August 25, 2026
  2. The Justice Department sues Maine and Oregon, ratcheting up demands for voter data — NPR secondary accessed August 25, 2026
  3. Federal judge dismisses Justice Department lawsuit seeking Oregon's voter rolls — NBC News investigative accessed August 25, 2026
  4. Judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit seeking Oregon voter information — KPTV investigative accessed August 25, 2026
  5. On Election Day, Attorney General Rayfield Defends Voter Privacy at Ninth Circuit — Oregon Department of Justice primary accessed August 25, 2026

See also