Updated

Updated · Parkersburg News · Jul 17

Judge Dismisses DOJ Suit for West Virginia Voter Lists, Blocking Release of 1 Statewide Unredacted Roll

Updated

Updated · Parkersburg News · Jul 17

Judge Dismisses DOJ Suit for West Virginia Voter Lists, Blocking Release of 1 Statewide Unredacted Roll

Q: What will happen to the voter data from the 13 states that already complied with the now legally-challenged federal request?

The voter data already turned over by the 13 complying states is in legal limbo: it remains with the Justice Department for now, but its intended use has been sharply undermined and courts are being asked to order its deletion and block any further sharing. That is because the federal rationale for collecting the data has weakened on two fronts. Judges in multiple states, including West Virginia, have ruled that the DOJ lacked a valid legal basis to compel unredacted statewide voter files. Separately, a federal court has barred the administration’s revised SAVE citizenship-check system, which was a central tool the DOJ said it would use to compare voter records against federal databases. As a result, voting-rights and civil-liberties groups are pursuing lawsuits seeking to stop the DOJ from stockpiling the information, prevent disclosure to other agencies or contractors, and require destruction of data already obtained. Those cases matter because the records reportedly include highly sensitive personal information such as dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. So, at this stage, there is no public indication that the DOJ has been ordered to purge the 13 states’ data yet. But there is also no clear path for the government to use it in the way originally described, and the courts are now the likely venue for deciding whether the data can be retained, shared, or must be deleted.

3 articles · Updated · Parkersburg News · Jul 17

U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston denied the Justice Department's motion and granted West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner's request to dismiss the federal lawsuit over unredacted statewide voter registration records.
Johnston wrote the DOJ showed neither suspected noncompliance with HAVA or the NVRA nor anomalies in West Virginia's voter data, leaving no factual or legally valid basis for the demand.
Warner argued state law bars disclosure of sensitive personal information in the statewide voter registration system without clear legal authority, and said the ruling validated that position.
The decision preserves county clerks' current handling of voter records and reinforces West Virginia's stance that election administration can comply with federal law without releasing voters' personal data.