A federal judge has dismissed the Justice Department’s attempt to compel Washington to turn over an unredacted copy of its statewide voter-registration list, rejecting the federal government’s argument that the Civil Rights Act required disclosure of voters’ sensitive identifying information.
U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson granted Washington’s motions to dismiss on Tuesday, September 22. Her 11-page order also denied the Justice Department’s motion to compel as moot, ending the case in the trial court unless the federal government appeals.
The dispute began after the department asked Washington for an electronic copy of its statewide voter file containing each registrant’s name, date of birth, residential address, driver’s-license number and the last four digits of a Social Security number. Washington offered a version with confidential fields removed, according to the order, but declined to provide the unredacted database.
Evanson ruled that the department’s demand exceeded the federal statute it invoked. Title III of the Civil Rights Act requires election officials to retain and produce certain voting records for 22 months. The judge concluded that Washington’s continuously updated statewide voter list was not itself a record that the state was required to retain under that provision. She also found that forcing the state to disclose protected personal information would conflict with federal law.
Washington law separately limits disclosure of sensitive voter information. The state’s voter statute makes voter-registration records available for political and governmental purposes while shielding information including Social Security numbers, driver’s-license numbers and certain protected addresses.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the decision upheld Washington’s duty to protect voters’ personal data. The State Standard reported that the ruling was the Justice Department’s 25th loss in a nationwide series of voter-file cases. That figure describes trial-court outcomes and does not preclude appeals.
The Justice Department has said its voter-list requests are part of an effort to enforce federal election laws, including the National Voter Registration Act. The department’s NVRA guidance says the law requires states to maintain accurate rolls while protecting eligible voters from improper removal.
A case tracker maintained by the Brennan Center for Justice says the federal government has contacted nearly every state and the District of Columbia for voter information and sued 30 states plus the district. The organization says at least 16 states supplied full voter lists; those totals reflect its own review of public records.
For Washington voters, the immediate effect is that the state does not have to release the unredacted database under the dismissed complaint. The ruling does not prevent ordinary access to voter records allowed by state law, change registration eligibility or alter election procedures. Any broader precedent will depend on whether the Justice Department appeals and how higher courts evaluate the competing federal record-retention and privacy arguments.
