The Justice Department has initiated legal action against Oregon and Maine, along with their respective Secretaries of State, accusing them of failing to provide information about voter list maintenance procedures and electronic copies of statewide voter registration lists. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division stated that states cannot selectively ignore federal voting laws, which ensure equal ballot access for American citizens in federal elections. She emphasized that voters must trust the electoral process and warned that refusal to protect against vote dilution would lead to legal consequences.
The lawsuit against Oregon alleges violations of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA). It claims Oregon and Secretary of State Tobias Read refused to supply an unredacted electronic voter registration list, details on voter list maintenance, and data on ineligible voters. Similarly, the Maine lawsuit accuses Secretary of State Shenna Bellows of failing to provide information on removing ineligible individuals and producing a full computerized voter list. Both states reportedly shared identical information with a private organization but withheld it from the Justice Department.
The DOJ’s efforts to obtain statewide voter registration data have intensified, with over two dozen states requested to provide databases. Some states declined or delayed responses, citing state laws or the DOJ’s alleged failure to meet Privacy Act requirements. Federal officials followed up with urgent demands for unredacted lists containing personal details like names, birth dates, and driver’s license numbers. The department also threatened legal action against Minnesota and California.
Maine’s Bellows and Oregon’s Read have criticized the requests, calling them an overreach of federal power. Bellows stated Maine’s elections are among the nation’s best and accused the DOJ of targeting states where secretaries of state resist what she described as “federal abuse of power.” Read echoed similar sentiments, defending Oregon’s stance against the legal pressure.