Judges in Maine and Wisconsin dismiss Justice Department's attempts to
force turnover of voter rolls
[May 22, 2026]
By PATRICK WHITTLE and SCOTT BAUER
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday
dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to
compel the states to hand over detailed voter registration information.
U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin said the state’s voter
registration list is not a record that can be requested under the Civil
Rights Act of 1960, as President Donald Trump's administration argued.
In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker described the
government's claim as “half-hearted” and granted a state motion to
dismiss it.
The rulings were the latest in a string of defeats for the Trump
administration in its attempts to force states to turn over voter rolls.
In addition to Maine and Wisconsin, judges have rejected similar
attempts in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and
Rhode Island, In Georgia, a judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit because it had
been filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile
elsewhere.
The DOJ has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking
to force release of the detailed voter data. It includes information
such as dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial
Social Security numbers.
Bianca Shaw, state director of Common Cause Wisconsin, called the ruling
“a massive victory for voter privacy and a rejection of federal
overreach.”
“The decision ensures voters are protected from an unauthorized national
database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for
intimidation,” she said in a statement. “Our elections remain safe,
secure, and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong,”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat and Trump opponent
who is running for governor, said the ruling affirms that states and not
the federal government are in charge of elections and voting. Trump's
administration has sought the voter data since last year in Maine and
elsewhere.
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Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows speaks with reporters during
the National Associate of Secretaries of State Conference in
Washington, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
“Let me be clear — Trump and the DOJ may continue to try to
interfere with free and fair elections run by the states. We will
not let them,” Bellows said in a statement.
Officials with the Justice Department did not immediately respond to
a request for comment about the rulings or a potential appeal.
In Wisconsin, Common Cause, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired
Americans, Forward Latino and three voters intervened in the case in
opposition to the government’s attempts to obtain the state’s voter
rolls.
Doug Poland, director of litigation for Law Forward, a
Wisconsin-based liberal law firm, called the Trump administration’s
moves “thinly-masked efforts to manipulate and subvert future
elections.”
“The court recognized this as an illegal attempt to gather and
weaponize data on Americans, dressed up in the language of voting
rights enforcement,” he said.
Judge Walker, a Trump appointee, ruled in Maine that the
responsibility for managing elections lies with the states.
“Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and
administrators of elections for federal office, unless Congress
passes legislation that preempts that framework," Walker wrote.
Pederson, the Wisconsin judge, was an appointee of former President
Barack Obama.
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Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.
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