Judge hears arguments in DOJ lawsuit seeking Minnesota's voter registration data
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Attorneys for the state of Minnesota argued in court Tuesday that the state shouldn’t have to share its voter registration data with the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in September seeking voter registration lists, including social security numbers and driver’s license numbers. It’s part of the Trump administration’s attempts to gather that data from across the country.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon motioned to block that lawsuit, and said the federal government doesn't have the legal grounds to demand voter registration information.
In a hearing Tuesday, attorneys for Minnesota said the Department of Justice hasn’t specified a clear enough reason to check the state’s voter registration rolls. Attorney Angela Behrens called the request a “fishing expedition.”
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The Department of Justice argued that the federal government has a legal right to check those lists to ensure that the state is in compliance with voter registration laws, and to look for voter fraud.
In the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, attorneys for the state raise concerns that the data could be used for purposes beyond checking for voter fraud. The motion cites federal efforts to use state data for immigration enforcement purposes. Behrens said there’s a “fundamental mismatch between the claimed purpose and the request.”
Judge Kate Menendez asked Department of Justice Attorney James Tucker if voter information could be used for immigration enforcement.
He said that’s not the purpose of requesting information, but that he wasn’t sure if other federal agencies would be able to access that information for their own purposes once it was collected.
Minnesota is one of 29 states facing federal lawsuits seeking this information. In all three states where courts have issued final rulings on attempts to dismiss these lawsuits – California, Oregon and Michigan – judges have sided with the states and said they don’t need to hand over the data. Arguments are still underway in other states over the same issue. Several other states agreed to share their voter registration lists.
Judge Menendez asked both parties to file more briefings in response to recent rulings in similar voter data lawsuits. She said she’ll consider the arguments and decide whether to dismiss the case or move forward.
