Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed U.S. Department of Justice efforts to force the states to hand over detailed voter registration information, dealing additional blows to a broader push for access to voter rolls during the Trump administration. In Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge James Pederson concluded the state’s voter registration list did not qualify as the kind of record that can be compelled under a Civil Rights Act of 1960 framework the government had invoked. In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker rejected the government’s approach and granted the state’s motion to dismiss.

The Justice Department’s lawsuits sought turnover of detailed registration data, according to the court filings described in the reporting. The data includes sensitive fields such as dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, a combination that critics have said would expose voters to privacy risks. The cases were part of a larger DOJ effort that has targeted many states as well as the District of Columbia, with the litigation seeking detailed voter data rather than a limited or redacted dataset.

In Wisconsin, Pederson ruled the state’s voter registration list was not a record that could be requested under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, a decision that cited the government’s legal theory for why the federal case could proceed. The ruling formed part of the latest in a series of setbacks described by the court and reflected in other states’ litigation outcomes, where judges have rejected similar attempts to compel voter-roll turnover.

In Maine, Walker took a different tack focused on the substance of the government’s claim. He described the government’s argument as “half-hearted,” according to reporting on the decision, and granted Maine’s motion to dismiss. Walker also said in his ruling that the responsibility for managing elections lies with the states, unless Congress passes legislation that preempts state administration, and he invoked the constitutional structure for that determination.

The dismissals were described as part of an expanding pattern of losses for the Justice Department in the effort to obtain voter rolls in multiple states. In addition to Maine and Wisconsin, judges have rejected similar DOJ attempts in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Rhode Island, and in Georgia a judge dismissed a DOJ case because it was filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile elsewhere. The reporting said the DOJ has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force the release of detailed voter data.

Common Cause Wisconsin and other organizations and voters intervened in the Wisconsin case opposing the government’s request, according to the reporting. In that matter, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, Forward Latino and three voters also joined the opposition, with the court considering those interventions alongside the DOJ’s request for the voter-roll information.

Bianca Shaw, state director of Common Cause Wisconsin, characterized Thursday’s ruling as a victory for voter privacy and an outcome she said rejected federal overreach. Shaw said in a statement that the decision “ensures voters are protected from an unauthorized national database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation,” and she added that the state’s elections would remain “safe, secure, and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong.”

Maine’s position also came through statements from state election officials. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who is running for governor and who opposed Trump as described in the reporting, said the ruling affirmed that states—not the federal government—are in charge of elections and voting. Bellows said in a statement that Trump and the Justice Department could continue efforts to interfere with free and fair elections run by the states, but she added, “We will not let them.”

In Wisconsin, Doug Poland, director of litigation for Law Forward, urged the courts’ reading of the government’s case and said the DOJ’s effort was an illegal attempt to gather and weaponize data on Americans, dressed up as voting-rights enforcement. He said the court recognized the request as an attempt to obtain and use voter data, while officials with the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the government would appeal the rulings.

Sources:

  • Associated Press (Patrick Whittle), May 21, 2026: “Judges in Maine and Wisconsin reject DOJ efforts to obtain voter rolls”
  • Other outlets in the cluster include ABCNews wire-story listings and regional/national daily republishes as provided in the source list.