U.S. DOJ says it's suing to get West Virginia voter info like names, birth dates and ID numbers

West Virginia said ‘no’ to turning over sensitive information to U.S. Department of Justice, and now DOJ says it is suing to get state voters’ information like birth dates, residential addresses, drivers license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced it has filed new federal lawsuits against five states — Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey — for what it called failure to produce their full voter registration lists upon request.

That brings the Justice Department’s nationwide total to 29 states and the District of Columbia.

“Accurate, well-maintained voter rolls are a requisite for the election integrity that the American people deserve,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in an announcement about the lawsuits.

“This latest series of litigation underscores that This Department of Justice is fulfilling its duty to ensure transparency, voter roll maintenance, and secure elections across the country.”

This has been an ongoing issue since West Virginia’s Secretary of State, Kris Warner has twice said no, citing state law and personal voter information.

“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 said earlier this month.

“State law is clear: voter lists are available in a redacted format from my office, but I’ll not be turning over any West Virginian’s protected information.”

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s office said the press release from DOJ was the first inkling of a lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

“This is the first we’ve seen of a lawsuit naming the state of West Virginia. We have not been served,” said Mike Queen, deputy secretary of state and spokesman for the West Virginia office.

“Regardless, I think Secretary Warner’s comments to the DOJ were pretty clear. Bring it on! The federal government is not going to get any personal information on West Virginia voters as long as Kris Warner is Secretary of State.”

The federal government has been seeking full voter registration lists including names, addresses, birthdates, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

Letters have gone to states including Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Many states have refused to comply, arguing that the request exceeds federal authority over elections and compromises voter privacy.

“There is absolutely zero reason for the federal government to seize any state’s voter rolls, which include highly sensitive personal information including voters’ Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive identifiers,” said Julie Archer, director of democracy programs for West Virginia Citizen Action Group.

“State and local election officials should be the only ones with access to these, as they run our elections. State officials from both parties have rightfully refused to hand over voter rolls, citing concerns about voters’ private information and the illegality of such requests.”

Archer expressed support for Warner’s refusal to turn over West Virginians’ personal information “for the DOJ’s phony “investigation” which leans heavily on long-debunked conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election.

“These baseless claims are being used as justification to break the law and interfere with free and fair elections in order to maintain power and silence the voices of those who don’t support the President. Ultimately this is about control over who can register to vote, stay on the rolls, and have their vote counted.”

West Virginia officials said the federal government’s first request came last September from a lower level Department of Justice employee.

The state’s response was that it would turn over nothing beyond what would normally be available. Furthermore, the state concluded that “the demand included only a vague explanation of the basis and specific purpose of the request.”

Then earlier this month, Warner said, came an inquiry from the chief at the civil rights division of DOJ: “The response that you provided earlier, we’re giving you a chance to reconsider that.”

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office provided a response to the federal official, Eric Neff, acting director of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, Voting Section.

Warner said the state’s response was, “Once again, we said no, you’re not going to get the personal information. You can have what everybody else is able to get, but we’re not turning over the list.”

DOJ’s lawsuits contend the Attorney General is uniquely charged by Congress with broad authority to request election records under the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

The contention is that the act allows the attorney general to demand the production, inspection and analysis of statewide voter registration lists that can be cross-checked effectively for improper registrations.

The lawsuit asks to “order Defendant to provide to the Attorney General the current electronic copy of West Virginia’s computerized voter registration list, with all fields, including each registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and either their Driver’s License number, the last four digits of their Social Security number, or HAVA unique identifier.”