Turning Eighteen: Justice Department Sues Four Additional States and One Locality for Failure to Comply with Federal Elections Laws

Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced it has filed federal lawsuits against four states — Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada — for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request. This brings the Justice Department’s nationwide total to 18. The Civil Rights Division is also suing one locality — Fulton County, Georgia — for records related to the 2020 election.

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“States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will.”

According to the lawsuits, the Attorney General is uniquely charged by Congress with the enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which were designed by Congress to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs.

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.