DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — The Department of Justice sued 30 states and the District of Columbia on April 1 for failing to turn over full copies of their voter registration lists. The requested data sets include driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

The department has experienced legal defeats in California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Arizona and Michigan over its voter data requests. Utah, West Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and Idaho have refused to hand over the requested information. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 12 states have turned over their complete voter list so far, all of them Republican-led. Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee turned over the requested data but did not sign a memorandum of understanding to purge voters ruled ineligible within 45 days, and only two states shared the data with a written memorandum of understanding.

Republican-controlled states have cited their constitutionally guaranteed authority over election administration, concerns over data security, privacy laws and questionable legal grounds for the request. The voter data requests originated from Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election and assertions of widespread voter fraud. In April, voting rights groups sued the administration over the requests for voter rolls, accusing it of laying the groundwork for voter purges ahead of the November midterms.

In a Rhode Island courtroom, the DOJ stated that it planned to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security and run it through DHS's Save database. Internal department emails released in a recently filed lawsuit corroborate that intention.

In a February 11 letter, West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner refused the request. "West Virginians entrust me with their sensitive personal information. Turning it over to the federal government, which is contrary to state law, will simply not happen." Warner wrote. "I dare say that the DoJ cannot do a better job than the 55 West Virginia county clerks who have accomplished the herculean task of refreshing more than half of the state's voter rolls over the last 9 years, and continue to do so on a daily basis." State law in West Virginia makes voter lists available in a redacted format but prohibits turning over protected personal information.

Eileen O'Connor, senior counsel in voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice, said: "The end goal for the justice department was to undermine elections, to try to take over and interfere with and call into doubt federal elections." O'Connor added: "Mass disenfranchisement is a danger, but it requires a couple more steps that even the states who have agreed to hand over their voter rolls still may not be willing to undertake, which would be purging a bunch of voters who shouldn't be purged from their voter rolls."

Scott Warren, a fellow at the Agora Institute, said: "The department's demands for sensitive voter data created a tightrope for these officials to walk between their principles and the political reality at hand." Warren added: "Their pushback against the DoJ request comes from a place of being responsible, effective, conservative chief election officials." He said: "If you ask voters in some of these more conservative states, do you want your personal information given to the federal government, they would most likely say no, because that would be overreach." Warren also said: "If you ask voters, who is asking for this information? They're going to be more supportive, because they largely approve of the Trump administration." He added: "States know better when it comes to serving their voters."