JUNEAU — The League of Women Voters of Alaska and the Alaska Black Caucus sued state Division of Elections officials in Juneau, Alaska, on April 22, 2026, alleging that sharing the state's full voter registration list with the U.S. Department of Justice violates the Alaska Constitution. The lawsuit names Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and division Director Carol Beecher as defendants.

The complaint alleges that handing over personal data on the voter list violates the right to privacy under the state constitution. It also alleges the memorandum of understanding violates due process by allowing the Justice Department to flag voters for removal without any apparent notice or process for impacted voters to challenge those decisions.

The plaintiffs are asking a judge to void the memorandum of understanding and require the Division of Elections to make reasonable efforts to ensure the immediate destruction by the Justice Department of any hard copies and electronic versions of the shared voter registration list. The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, the ACLU Voting Rights Project and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

"Rather than fiercely defending the rights of Alaska's voters, our Division of Elections acceded to federal overreach," Eric Glatt, legal director for the ACLU of Alaska, said in a statement. Rachel Witty, an attorney with the state Department of Law, said during a legislative hearing that the state had a "compelling interest" in complying with the federal request. "To ensure the integrity of elections, there was a mutual interest in maintaining voters rolls that were accurate and current," Witty said.

Sam Curtis, a spokesperson with the state Department of Law, said by email that it would be premature to comment on specific claims raised in the lawsuit. He said the department had previously explained in public hearings that state law "expressly permits the sharing of this information for authorized governmental purposes. That statute is on the books, and we will defend it."

The Alaska lawsuit states that under state law a voter's registration can be promptly canceled only upon death or conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude. The complaint says elections officials have said they will only remove voters to the extent allowed by state and federal law, but that the lawsuit characterizes that interpretation as irreconcilable with the plain language of the agreement with the Justice Department.

Alaska and Texas signed memoranda of understanding with the Justice Department outlining plans for its analysis of voter files, plans to flag voter list issues and directions for removing voters deemed ineligible. Several other states provided detailed voter data to the department but did not sign the memoranda as part of its effort to obtain detailed voter data from every state. Alaska is one of at least 12 states that has provided or said it would provide detailed voter information, including date of birth, driver's license number or partial Social Security number, to the Trump administration, according to the Brennan Center.

The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia to try to force the release of voter registration data, according to the Brennan Center. Judges have rejected Justice Department lawsuits seeking voter data in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Rhode Island. A judge in Georgia dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit after ruling it had been filed in the wrong city, and the department subsequently refiled the case. Besides the state court lawsuit in Alaska, at least four federal lawsuits have been filed to stop the Justice Department from collecting information from unredacted voter registration files or to prevent states from canceling or suspending voter registrations based on the federal project.