Trump Justice Department Turns to Civil Rights Law in Effort to Access State Voter Rolls
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department under the Trump administration has shifted its legal strategy in an ongoing push to obtain sensitive voter data from states, now relying heavily on a Civil Rights Act provision originally designed to protect Black voters from disenfranchisement during the Jim Crow era.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, appointed by former President Trump to lead the department’s civil rights division, has argued that the records would allow states to “clean” their voter rolls by cross-referencing them with other federal databases. Critics, including election experts and voter advocacy groups, have raised concerns that the effort could result in the improper removal of eligible voters and that the data may be used for purposes beyond maintaining accurate voter rolls.
The Trump administration has worked with the Department of Homeland Security to review state voter registration files for evidence of non-citizens, according to sources familiar with internal discussions. While some states have provided portions of the requested data, many, including Republican-led offices, have resisted sharing highly sensitive information such as birth dates, social security numbers, and driver’s license numbers, citing privacy protections.
Currently, the Justice Department is pursuing legal action against 23 mostly Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia for failing to comply with requests for voter registration data. The pivot to the Civil Rights Act marks a significant change from earlier reliance on federal voter registration laws, such as the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which were cited in initial requests.
The specific provision of the 1960 Civil Rights Act invoked requires election officials to maintain voter registration records and make them available for inspection at the attorney general’s request. Dhillon has emphasized the law’s broad language, asserting that her office does not need to justify the intended use of the information when making such a request.
Legal experts have questioned the interpretation, noting that Congress originally enacted the law to address racial discrimination in voter registration. “The idea that the Civil Rights Act was intended as a blanket authorization for the Justice Department to demand all voter records, even in the absence of alleged discrimination, is extreme,” said Elisabeth Frost, litigation chair at Elias Law Group.
The Justice Department has maintained that its interpretation of the law is correct, arguing in court filings that opponents are misreading the statute by implying a requirement of racial discrimination.
The shift comes amid significant changes in the department’s voting section. Nearly all career experts left or were pushed out during the early months of Trump’s second term, leaving a skeleton staff largely composed of attorneys previously associated with right-wing organizations. Observers have noted that the current legal approach reflects a departure from typical Department of Justice protocols.
As litigation continues, the outcome could have wide-ranging implications for state control over voter registration data and federal oversight of elections in the United States.
