Voter Data Protection
Federal Judge Denies Justice Department Bid for New Hampshire's Voter Data, Citing Law
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A federal judge tossed out the Justice Department's lawsuit against New Hampshire on June 29, blocking the Trump administration's attempt to get the state's detailed voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante issued a 26-page ruling saying the DOJ's request failed to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and that the department never gave a valid reason for the demand — something he called "independently fatal" to the government's case, according to AP News.
The loss makes New Hampshire the 10th state to beat back these lawsuits. The DOJ is now 0 for 11 overall — with 10 district court losses and one appellate defeat — in its push to force states to hand over sensitive voter data including Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers, according to Daily Gazette.
Why the Judge Threw Out the DOJ's Case
Judge LaPlante, a George W. Bush appointee, found two fatal flaws in the DOJ's lawsuit. First, the request did not meet the requirements of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, a law originally written to fight racial discrimination in voting. Second, the DOJ failed to allege any specific violation under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, known as HAVA, according to Click On Detroit.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, had refused the DOJ's demand back in July 2025, citing state law that bars sharing confidential voter data without a clear federal mandate. After the ruling, Scanlan said: "I am committed to protecting the private information of New Hampshire voters to the fullest extent required by law. Today's court order affirms that I fulfilled that commitment," according to KTAR.
A Nationwide Data Push That Keeps Hitting Walls
The DOJ launched this effort in June 2025, sending demand letters to at least 30 states and Washington, D.C. The goal was to get unredacted voter registration files — full databases with personal details on every registered voter. Only 17 Republican-led states voluntarily handed over the data. The rest pushed back, according to AP News.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi has vowed to keep fighting. "The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards," she has said. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, called state resistance "open defiance" of federal voting laws, according to Seattle Times.
Critics Say the Real Goal Is a National Voter Database
Voting rights groups say this is not really about clean voter rolls. The Brennan Center for Justice called the DOJ's 0-for-11 record a "stunning judicial rebuke" of "unprecedented overreach." Voting rights attorney Marc Elias argued the administration wants to build a federally controlled voter list to identify and remove specific voters before the 2026 midterms, according to Tri-City Record.
New Hampshire has 956,346 registered voters as of May 2026 — 314,005 Republicans, 265,183 Democrats, and 377,158 listed as undeclared. Internal DOJ whistleblowers, cited by the New York Times, said staff attorneys felt the lawsuits were "dishonest" and a "perversion" of the Civil Rights Division's mission, leading to high staff turnover in the department's Voting Section.
What Comes Next for the DOJ's Legal Strategy
The DOJ is expected to appeal the New Hampshire ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Just five days before the ruling, on June 24, the Sixth Circuit upheld a lower court's dismissal in a similar Michigan case — the administration's first appellate loss in these voter data fights, according to Votebeat via AP News.
A related case in Arizona is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. That ruling could ultimately decide how much power the federal government has to demand state voter data. Until then, the DOJ's legal record suggests its core argument — that federal law grants "unrestricted access" to sensitive voter files — is failing in courtrooms across the country, according to KDH News.
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