The Standing Record

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

DOJ sued six states including Pennsylvania to force disclosure of sensitive voter data

On September 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — demanding they turn over sensitive personal voter data including full names, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The DOJ invoked the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, claiming the states were violating federal law by refusing to produce unredacted voter registration rolls. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, characterized the demand as a "concerning attempt" to consolidate federal control over state election administration, emphasizing that "in the United States of America, it's the states who run elections, not the federal government."

Jurisdiction
federal
Location
Nationwide

Abuses documented

Actors

On September 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal lawsuits against six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — demanding they produce complete voter registration rolls containing sensitive personal data, including full names, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced the action, invoking the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 as legal authority. The DOJ claimed the states were violating federal law by refusing to provide unredacted voter data and by failing to adequately explain their voter roll maintenance procedures.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, characterized the demand as a "concerning attempt" by the federal government to "consolidate and overreach at the federal level," emphasizing that "in the United States of America, it's the states who run elections, not the federal government." All six states named in the September 25 action are led by Democratic governors except New Hampshire. Election officials across the targeted states raised concerns that the data demand exceeded constitutional bounds — the authority to administer elections is granted to states and Congress, not the executive branch — and that the sensitive voter data could be repurposed to search for and purge noncitizens from rolls, disenfranchising eligible voters through inaccurate identification.

The archive records this as executive overreach into state election administration and as voter suppression through the mechanism of coerced disclosure of sensitive personal data and the resulting risk of erroneous purges. The September 25 action was part of a broader DOJ campaign: Oregon and Maine had been sued the previous week, and additional states followed in subsequent months.

Why we recorded this

The archive records federal overreach into state election administration. The Department of Justice sued six states demanding sensitive personal voter data (dates of birth, SSN fragments, driver's license numbers), claiming authority under the NVRA and HAVA to police state voter rolls. This federal demand violates state election authority, creates risk of erroneous voter purges, and exemplifies executive interference with election processes that the Constitution reserves to states and Congress.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Sues Six States for Failure to Provide Voter Registration Rolls — U.S. Department of Justice primary accessed June 21, 2026
  2. Pennsylvania election official responds as DOJ sues state to obtain voter data — PBS NewsHour primary accessed June 20, 2026
  3. US Justice Department sues Pa., five other states in its quest for voter data — Spotlight PA primary accessed June 21, 2026
  4. ACLU-PA Responds to DOJ's Lawsuit Pressuring States to Turn Over Unredacted Voter Rolls — ACLU of Pennsylvania secondary accessed June 21, 2026

See also