Restoration Responds: Judge Blocks Federal Oversight of State Voter Roll, Marking DOJ’s 23rd Straight Loss
Federal judges keep shielding dirty voter rolls from scrutiny, setting up likely Supreme Court battle. Here's what you can do about it.
On August 17, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez in Minnesota dismissed a demand from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) for unredacted statewide voter files. This brings the DOJ’s record to 0–23 in the 30 states from which it is trying to obtain state voter files to inspect whether states are maintaining clean rolls in accordance with federal law. Attorney General Todd Blanche has said he is open to appealing the issue to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, has argued that the federal government has the right under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to make voter rolls public.
Additionally, as Restoration News has noted, the Civil Rights Act of 1960 allows the federal government to inspect and copy information that potential voters give the states during registration. But Democratic state officials and activist judges continue to treat basic voter data as state secrets.
The common argument against the DOJ—and one that Menendez made—is that the law only allows the federal government to request the raw data that voters give registrars. This absurd reasoning ignores the fact that the unified voter files kept by the states contain the same information. In fact, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 specifically requires states to keep their voter files in a centralized, digitized format.
These rulings allow Democratic-run states to maintain sloppy rolls that keep people registered who are ineligible to vote because they moved away or died. In many cases, even noncitizens register and vote, diluting eligible American citizens’ voices.
How We Got Here
The DOJ has sued 30 states for failing to comply with voter registration list requests. It needs these lists to ensure states are verifying citizenship and removing ineligible voters’ names.
- Every district court has dismissed the cases. Minnesota’s August 17 ruling marks loss number 23 for the DOJ.
- The DOJ is challenging district court defeats and has left the door open to appealing to the Supreme Court if that’s what it takes.
Why It Matters
- Illegitimate voting cancels legitimate votes. Every illegal ballot silences the voice of an eligible citizen.
- Dirty rolls invite fraud. Without full data, the federal government cannot check if states are turning a blind eye to registered noncitizens, deceased voters, or people who have moved.
- Activist judges are purposely being obtuse. Judges are parsing language in federal law to deny the DOJ access to voter rolls on a technicality.
What Can I Do?
Contact your senator today at SaveActNow.com and demand they pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. It requires documentary proof of citizenship to register and compels states to remove ineligible voters if they receive proof from the federal government that an individual is not a citizen.
You can check the rolls yourself for 35 states and the District of Columbia. Visit VoteRef.com from the Voter Reference Foundation to review publicly available voter data.
The Takeaway
Clean voter rolls are necessary for fair, transparent elections. Activist courts are splitting hairs to give Democratic states cover in their quest to avoid voter roll accountability from the DOJ. America needs the Supreme Court to settle this issue for good. Until then, concerned citizens should urge the Senate to pass election integrity legislation and monitor voter rolls from states that have been transparent.
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