DOJ lawsuit against Illinois draws support from election integrity advocates

By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking access to Illinois’ unredacted voter registration database draws praise from an election integrity advocate, who says the move enforces long-standing federal law rather than partisan politics.

The DOJ filed suit Thursday in federal court in Springfield seeking access to Illinois’ voter rolls, making Illinois at least the 19th state sued as the federal government enforces voter list maintenance laws under the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.

Carol Davis is the Illinois Conservative Union Chairman and an election integrity advocate.

“I applaud Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, for her diligence in insisting that all states comply with federal law regarding voter list maintenance,” Davis told The Center Square.

Davis rejected criticism of the DOJ’s request, calling concerns over data access overblown and politically motivated.

“I’m dismayed at the hand-wringing and pearl-clutching over what seems a simple and straightforward request to states to provide un-redacted voter list data to the DOJ,” she said.

The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment on the merits of the case.

“We have requested representation from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, but we do not comment on pending litigation,” spokesman Matt Dietrich said.

According to Davis, the action follows months of formal notices sent to states.

“Months ago, AAG Dhillon began a systematic and non-partisan effort to notify states that this DOJ is serious about ensuring that federal election laws such as the NVRA and HAVA are enforced,” Davis said.

Davis emphasized that the laws cited in the lawsuit were enacted with bipartisan support and are not new.

“Keep in mind that this legislation was crafted, voted on and passed by legislators on both sides of the aisle,” she said.

Some states, including Illinois, have raised concerns that providing unredacted voter data could expose sensitive personal information. Davis dismissed those arguments.

“Some states are using the lame excuse that the data contains ‘sensitive information’ such as Social Security numbers,” Davis said. “This is ridiculous considering that the federal government is the entity which assigns those numbers.”

After states declined to comply with DOJ letters requesting the data and citing federal authority, Davis said litigation was the logical next step.

“After states were notified via letters from the DOJ requesting the data and citing the laws which enable that request, now the DOJ is taking the next legal step: filing suit against those states which have not complied,” she said. “The most recent lawsuits were filed against the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin.”

Davis pointed to public polling as evidence that voter roll maintenance remains broadly supported.

“Poll after poll indicates broad public support for election integrity and transparency reforms such as regular, systematic maintenance of state voter rolls,” she said.

She cited Section 8 of the NVRA, which requires states to maintain accurate voter registration lists.

“Election integrity watchdogs, including the great volunteers who help us, have been trying to hold local and state election officials accountable to complying with this law for years,” said Davis. “We are extremely thankful that this DOJ is validating our concerns about voter list maintenance and taking concrete steps to ensure clean voter rolls,” she said.