DOJ sues WA secretary of state, demanding info on all state voters
The U.S. Department of Justice sued Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs on Tuesday over his refusal to turn over a trove of personal information about every registered voter in the state.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in September requested a copy of Washington’s complete voter database, including full names, birth dates and partial Social Security or driver’s license numbers.
Hobbs refused in a Sept. 23 letter to DOJ, citing state law that shields personal information such as driver’s license numbers and full dates of birth from public disclosure. He directed his office instead to supply only information that is publicly disclosable, including birth years, addresses, names and voting history.
The DOJ lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington, argues Hobbs’ refusal to hand over the complete voter database is illegal because the federal government has “sweeping power” under the Civil Rights Act to obtain such information.
The unredacted records are needed “to assess Washington’s compliance” with federal election laws, including requirements that states take “a reasonable effort” to ensure ineligible voters — such as dead people — are removed from voter rolls, according to the DOJ complaint.
Charlie Boisner, a spokesperson for Hobbs, said as of Tuesday afternoon his office had not been served a copy of the lawsuit and had only heard about it through media reports.
Indeed, a notation in the federal court docket said the DOJ complaint had been filed “incorrectly/improperly” and that the appearance in the case by DOJ Maureen Riordan and Eric Neff, was “not proper” under federal court rules. The notation said formal notice of the lawsuit filing “will not be sent until corrected.”
DOJ’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing glitch.
The DOJ data request in Washington is part of a national effort that aligns with President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims — unsubstantiated and rejected numerous times by courts — that voting in the U.S. is marred by massive fraud.
The New York Times reported in September that the Justice Department was seeking to compile the largest set of voter roll data it has ever collected in service of that effort.
DOJ has made similar data requests for voter data to at least 40 states, according to a tracker maintained by the Brennan Center for Justice. So far, only two of the states, Wyoming and Indiana, have turned over their full voter databases.
The Justice Department has sued at least eight states in addition to Washington over their refusal to comply: California, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania, according to the center.
The Washington State Republican Party predicted the DOJ lawsuit will succeed and criticized Hobbs in a statement Tuesday.
“The wheels of justice are turning,” the statement said, calling Hobbs’ concerns about privacy “specious” because federal law protects any private information that would be turned over to the DOJ.
“Also, we understand that state employee whistleblowers may have already provided the U.S. Department of Justice with the relevant information,” the GOP statement said.
I remember when the state GOP used to freak out over the minutest of possibility that people's personal info ending up in government hands.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in September requested a copy of Washington’s complete voter database, including full names, birth dates and partial Social Security or driver’s license numbers.
Hobbs refused in a Sept. 23 letter to DOJ, citing state law that shields personal information such as driver’s license numbers and full dates of birth from public disclosure. He directed his office instead to supply only information that is publicly disclosable, including birth years, addresses, names and voting history.
The DOJ lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington, argues Hobbs’ refusal to hand over the complete voter database is illegal because the federal government has “sweeping power” under the Civil Rights Act to obtain such information.
The unredacted records are needed “to assess Washington’s compliance” with federal election laws, including requirements that states take “a reasonable effort” to ensure ineligible voters — such as dead people — are removed from voter rolls, according to the DOJ complaint.
Charlie Boisner, a spokesperson for Hobbs, said as of Tuesday afternoon his office had not been served a copy of the lawsuit and had only heard about it through media reports.
Indeed, a notation in the federal court docket said the DOJ complaint had been filed “incorrectly/improperly” and that the appearance in the case by DOJ Maureen Riordan and Eric Neff, was “not proper” under federal court rules. The notation said formal notice of the lawsuit filing “will not be sent until corrected.”
DOJ’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing glitch.
The DOJ data request in Washington is part of a national effort that aligns with President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims — unsubstantiated and rejected numerous times by courts — that voting in the U.S. is marred by massive fraud.
The New York Times reported in September that the Justice Department was seeking to compile the largest set of voter roll data it has ever collected in service of that effort.
DOJ has made similar data requests for voter data to at least 40 states, according to a tracker maintained by the Brennan Center for Justice. So far, only two of the states, Wyoming and Indiana, have turned over their full voter databases.
The Justice Department has sued at least eight states in addition to Washington over their refusal to comply: California, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania, according to the center.
The Washington State Republican Party predicted the DOJ lawsuit will succeed and criticized Hobbs in a statement Tuesday.
“The wheels of justice are turning,” the statement said, calling Hobbs’ concerns about privacy “specious” because federal law protects any private information that would be turned over to the DOJ.
“Also, we understand that state employee whistleblowers may have already provided the U.S. Department of Justice with the relevant information,” the GOP statement said.
I remember when the state GOP used to freak out over the minutest of possibility that people's personal info ending up in government hands.
