DOJ now 0-26 after judge rejects demand for Georgia voter rolls 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has no right to Georgia’s unredacted statewide voter registration list, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, delivering the department’s 26th straight loss in its effort to obtain sensitive voting records.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert, a nominee of President Joe Biden, dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R). The administration had demanded the state’s complete voter roll, which includes people’s voting history, driver’s license and Social Security numbers and full dates of birth.

Though Georgia state law bars election officials from disclosing sensitive information in people’s voting records, the department repeatedly sent Raffensperger letters demanding the state’s full list.

Calvert concluded that the 1960 Civil Rights Act (CRA) does not authorize the department’s demands for the Peach State’s voter roll.

“The CRA does not preempt Georgia’s voter privacy law,” Calvert wrote, adding that her finding was “consistent with several district courts across the country.”

Alongside that finding, Calvert noted that, in response to the DOJ’s demands, Georgia repeatedly offered the public version of its voter roll, which is available to anyone for a fee.

The judge said even if states’ voter rolls were a document the DOJ could demand under the CRA, the public version of those lists would be enough.

Georgia was one of the 30 states, and Washington, D.C., DOJ sued to obtain unredacted rolls and voters’ sensitive personal information.

So far, no federal court has ruled in the DOJ’s favor in those lawsuits.