Trump administration sues Minnesota secretary of state over refusal to hand over voter rolls

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon over his refusal to provide the federal government with a copy of the state’s voter registration list.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court Thursday, will throw an ongoing dispute over the right to voters’ sensitive personal information into court for judges to decide.

The DOJ says it wants the data to allow the U.S. attorney general “to effectively assess Minnesota’s compliance” with federal elections law. The DOJ wants data including voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

Simon contends that there is no basis in law for the DOJ to demand access to such information.

“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure — states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”

The DOJ and Simon’s office have been sparring over the voter data since July. When Simon’s office declined the DOJ’s request it said it could not “identify any legal basis” for such a demand. The DOJ also didn’t initially explain how the data would be used, stored and secured.

“This is not normal,” Simon said in an interview. “This is a sweeping request for very personal, very private data on millions of Minnesota voters. And we have made very clear for many weeks with the Department of Justice our legal position that they are not entitled to this information under state or federal law.”

“That only adds to the concern that we have about the proper legal use of this sensitive information,” Simon said.

The Reuters report follows one from the Associated Press that said the DOJ is shifting away from its historical role of protecting access to the ballot and instead focusing on issues championed by conservative activists, including unfounded claims of voter fraud.

The DOJ has also sued seven other states, including Oregon, Maine and California. Officials in those states also refused similar requests and all but one of those states have Democratic governors.

Trump administration officials are also trying to collect other sensitive databases from Minnesota officials.

Several legal experts have said that federal elections and privacy laws generally favor Minnesota officials’ decision not to hand over the data. Those laws purposefully limit the oversight powers of the federal government in favor of state autonomy in election matters, they say.

Simon said his office routinely shares data with outside parties that have the legal right to obtain it. The Office of Legislative Auditor, for example, is using such data for an analysis of the state’s voting system.