The most important recent federal decisions on voter list acquisition have gone against the administration. Some courts said the Dept of Justice had not followed the statute correctly, others said the federal laws cited do not authorize this kind of sweeping access to sensitive state voter data. On April 10, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin dismissed DOJ’s suit seeking Massachusetts voter rolls. He wrote that the 1960 Civil Rights Act requires the Attorney General to state why the records are demanded, with an actual factual basis, and DOJ had not done that.

The Brennan Center has reviewed the Trump administration’s campaign to commandeer state voter data, as of April 9. Since May 2025, the DOJ has demanded that nearly every state and Washington, DC, hand over election-related records and data, such as full copies of statewide voter registration lists and ballots from previous elections, as well as access to voting equipment. The federal government has sued 30 states and Washington, DC, for refusing to provide voter files containing sensitive information such as driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

At least 12 states either provided or said they would provide full statewide voter files: Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Ten states sought clarification from federal officials about how the data would be used. Officials in Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota refused requests involving voting equipment or same-day registration records.

On March 9 the FBI subpoenaed the Arizona Senate over the Cyber Ninjas Maricopa audit of the 2024 results. FBI asserted that the audit records, devices, chain-of-custody materials, and related communications were evidence needed for an ongoing criminal probe. It has not disclosed what crimes may have been committed.