WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today it has filed federal lawsuits against six states — Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists (VRL) upon request.
Steve Hobbs was named and sued in the suit in his official capacity as Secretary of State of the State of Washington as the chief state election official responsible for coordinating Washington’s responsibilities under federal election laws. The DOJ is demanding Secretary Hobbs to provide it with the current electronic copy of Washington’s computerized statewide VRL.
“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,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”
“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “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.”
According to the DOJ, the purpose of the lawsuit is to enforce federal election laws by compelling the defendant to produce Washington’s computerized statewide voter registration list (VRL) in response to a written demand from the Attorney General.
The suit alleges that the Hobbs’ refusal to provide the voter registration list violates Title III of the CRA (52 U.S.C. § 20703), which grants the US Attorney General the authority to inspect and obtain election-related records. The Attorney General also has the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) at her disposal to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists.
On September 8, 2025, the Assistant Attorney General sent a written demand to the defendant for an electronic copy of Washington’s complete and current VRL, including all fields such as full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers, or the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
The purpose was to investigate Washington’s compliance with NVRA and HAVA list-maintenance requirements, prompted by a review of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) Report.
Hobbs refused this demand on September 23, 2025, citing Washington state privacy laws prohibiting the release of the VRL due to its containing private information which the DOJ counters stating in the suit that federal law preempts state privacy concerns.
Author: Mario Lotmore
