Department of Justice sues Pennsylvania for failure to provide voter registration rolls

(WHTM)– The United States Department of Justice is suing Pennsylvania, among other states, for its failure to provide voter registration rolls.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division announced on Thursday that it is filing lawsuits against six states, including Pennsylvania, for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request. Other states include California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and New Hampshire.

The lawsuits, which demanded the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists through the Civil Rights Act of 1960, were filed on September 25, 2025.

“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “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 lawsuit stated that Congress charges the Attorney General with enforcing the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, both of which were enacted by Congress to ensure that states have effective voter registration and voter maintenance programs.

“States are required to safeguard American elections by complying with our federal elections laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Clean voter rolls protect American citizens from voting fraud and abuse, and restore their confidence that their states’ elections are conducted properly, with integrity, and in compliance with the law.”

 Pennsylvania Department of State Secretary Al Schmidt, who oversees the state’s elections, released a statement on Thursday afternoon responding to the lawsuit.

“The Justice Department’s demand for voters’ personal information, including driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers, is unprecedented and unlawful, and we will vigorously fight the federal government’s overreach in court. The Department of State will aggressively defend the privacy of Pennsylvania voters against this baseless lawsuit and as Secretary of the Commonwealth, I have an obligation to protect the personal information that Pennsylvania voters entrust us with, and I take that obligation extremely seriously.”