The Trump administration is taking decisive action against six Democrat-led states that refuse to secure their elections. The Justice Department announced lawsuits Tuesday against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. These states failed to produce their complete statewide voter registration lists as required by federal law.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the administration will not tolerate the defiance. Bondi said, “Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance.”
She vowed a continuing crackdown on the issue. Bondi added, “The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”
The lawsuits argue that the states are defying the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon confirmed that this defiance interferes with the mission of ensuring election results are accurate and trustworthy.
Dhillon said, “States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results.” He stressed that the Justice Department “will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”
The lawsuit against Rhode Island cited a letter from the state refusing a request for voter roll information. This requested information included driver license data and the last four digits of Social Security numbers—data needed to verify eligibility and prevent fraud.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha immediately claimed the suit was an example of Trump weaponizing the Justice Department. Neronha said, “We stand with and will defend the secretary, and win, because lawsuits concerning lawful conduct are largely unsuccessful.”
Neronha offered a defiant closing statement: “But I’m not surprised that this administration is confused about what it means to behave lawfully.” This is the typical Democrat resistance to common-sense election integrity measures.
The new litigation follows similar suits filed in September against other major blue states, including Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and New York.