(AURN News) — The Justice Department has expanded its effort to obtain unredacted voter registration lists, filing five new lawsuits Thursday against Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey.
That brings the total number of jurisdictions sued by the department to 30, as it pushes to review statewide voter databases, including names, addresses, birth dates and other identifying information to assess how states maintain their rolls under federal law.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is acting under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, arguing courts should compel states to hand over the records and avoid questioning the department’s investigative purpose.
But resistance is growing across party lines. Utah Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson called the move a federal overreach, saying neither state nor federal law allows DOJ to collect private data on law-abiding voters.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
