DOJ announces it’s suing Washington for not handing over voter rolls
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Dec. 2 that it’s suing six states, including Washington, for failing to hand over voter rolls after being asked.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who’s named as a defendant, told reporters that afternoon that he found out about the legal challenge through the news media.
“Let’s be clear: I haven’t been sued yet. I haven’t been served,” he said at a news conference on the certification of the 2025 election results.
Court documents posted online by the Department of Justice (DOJ) state the case was filed Dec. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. McClatchy’s search of federal court records also showed that the federal government filed the lawsuit Dec. 2.
In September, the Justice Department asked Washington for a complete copy of its voter registration database within two weeks. The Trump administration sought voters’ full names, dates of birth, home addresses, and their driver’s license numbers or last four Social Security digits.
Hobbs’ office noted that some of the information requested, such as the partial Social Security and driver’s license numbers, is private. He said at the time that he wouldn’t release any information until the department explained what it planned to do with the data.
On Dec. 2, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement that accurate voter rolls are crucial to ensuring free and fair elections, and that “too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance.
“The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards,” Bondi continued.
The other five states that the DOJ said it is suing are Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Vermont.
Several other states previously faced similar lawsuits, bringing the number of voter-roll cases brought by the DOJ to 14.
In a DOJ news release, Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon cast the department’s lawsuits as a way to combat states’ defiance of federal civil rights laws.
Hobbs said Dec. 2 that both state and federal law bar him from handing out private information like full birth dates and socials. The Democrat said other secretaries of state, including Republicans, have similarly refused without being sued. Washington state asked Dhillon what the Justice Department planned to do with the data but never heard back, he added.
Hobbs argued that the issue boils down to a matter of states’ rights.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said he’s confident that, if there is a lawsuit, Washington will prevail in court.
“Our success rate against the administration is very, very high, as you well know, and we’re confident if they choose to sue us again, if this is real, that we’ll be successful,” the Democrat said at the news conference Dec. 2.
Dhillon previously teased plans for the lawsuit when speaking with “The Jason Rantz Show” on Seattle Red 770 AM last month. She took issue with Hobbs’ argument.
“Guess who issues the Social Security numbers? The federal government does,” she said, according to Seattle Red. “Who are you keeping secrets from? That is stupid, and we will definitely be taking action to enforce our federal civil rights law.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
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