DOJ sues Virginia for access to voter rolls, as courts reject effort in other states

The Justice Department sued Virginia for refusing to hand over unredacted voter registration data Friday, making it the 24th state targeted in a sweeping federal campaign that courts have already begun to shut down.

The lawsuit seeks to compel Virginia election officials to provide the DOJ its state’s voter registration database, including voters’ full names, addresses, birthdates, driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers.

The filing comes a day after a federal judge dismissed the DOJ’s case seeking California’s voter rolls, delivering a sweeping rebuke of the administration’s legal theory and warning that mass federal collection of voter data threatens voter participation. 

In that ruling, the court rejected the DOJ’s reliance on civil rights statutes to justify its demands and dismissed the case. The DOJ is relying on the same exact statutes in its lawsuit against Virginia. 

A federal court also tossed an identical DOJ lawsuit against Oregon, signaling early judicial resistance to the administration’s strategy as it presses the same arguments across the country.

Despite those losses, the DOJ’s lawsuit against Virginia mirrors its approach elsewhere. The department again relies on decades-old civil rights law, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act to argue it has sweeping authority to demand statewide voter rolls — and that courts should play only a limited role in reviewing those demands.

The Virginia filing also arrives with an eyebrow-raising detail: on the very first page, the DOJ misspells the state it is suing, labeling the agency the “Virgina Department of Elections.” The complaint later includes another typo, referring to the defendant “Commisioner Beals.”

Beyond the clerical errors, the complaint adopts a more overtly political tone than prior filings. It describes Susan Beals, the state’s elections commissioner, as “an appointee of Governor Glenn Youngkin,” and alleges that “members of the Youngkin administration” made commitments to produce the voter list that ultimately fell through.

The lawsuit follows months of negotiations — and, notably, an in-person showdown. The DOJ says Virginia officials engaged in “extensive discussions” after demand letters were sent in July and August 2025 and that on Jan. 8, representatives for Beals “expressed in person” that she would not provide the voter list.

The new lawsuit against Virginia underscores the Trump administration’s determination to press forward with its voter roll crusade even as its legal footing weakens.