DOJ failed to correctly serve WA in voter-roll lawsuit, SOS Steve Hobbs says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- DOJ filed suit in December seeking Washington's full voter database, incl. private data.
- Hobbs says Washington wasn't properly served and disputes the filing's handling.
- DOJ has sued about 30 jurisdictions seeking voter-roll access, per reports.
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it was filing suit against Washington over its refusal to share the state’s voter rolls after being asked.
But in a social media post last week, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said that Washington was never correctly served.
“It has been three months since the DOJ announced they planned to sue Washington state, and they have yet to properly file the suit,” Stefanie Randolph, spokesperson for Hobbs’ office, told McClatchy via email.
Hobbs claimed the same in a Feb. 6 op-ed for The Seattle Times, saying that he only learned of the December legal complaint from reporters. He wrote that the apparent failure to adequately carry out basic legal actions decreases his confidence that protected voter data “will be handled with care.”
McClatchy contacted the DOJ through its media-inquiries webpage to ask for its response and received a two-word reply via email: “No comment.”
Hobbs’ office told McClatchy Friday that the secretary would not likely have time for an interview — noting that the legislative session is nearing its end — but answered some questions via email.
The secretary’s post comes after the Justice Department announced Feb. 26 that it was suing a handful of new states in its effort to gain access to full voter registration lists. The DOJ says it has sued 29 states and the District of Columbia, though federal judges have dismissed earlier DOJ lawsuits against California, Michigan and Oregon.
Most of the sued states are led by Democrats, but four Republican-controlled states are defendants in the latest batch: Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia and Kentucky.
The DOJ posted court documents online indicating that its case against Washington was filed in early December in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and federal court records also showed the case was filed that day.
Asked whether Hobbs would be handing over information contained in the state’s voter rolls, Randolph said that his office pointed the Justice Department to a site where people can request voter data that’s publicly available.
In September, the DOJ asked Washington to send over a full copy of its voter registration database within two weeks, including private details such as driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers. Hobbs has declined to do so because voters’ private information is shielded under state laws, Randolph said.
Justice Department officials have argued that the feds have the authority to demand the data under a Civil Rights Act provision, also saying they need to ensure defendants are in compliance with federal statutes like the National Voter Registration Act and its requirements to remove ineligible voters from state rolls.
Randolph said that the state already employs strong maintenance practices for its voter registration database and that ineligible voters are regularly scrubbed from the roll.
Critics accuse the Trump administration of trying to interfere with state election processes.
Hobbs wrote in the Feb. 6 op-ed that elections are administered locally and at the state level to help boost transparency, build voter trust and keep power decentralized.
His office said questions remain about how the Justice Department would use and secure voters’ private data, plus whether it would give that information to other federal agencies.
“Attempts by federal officials to access protected information are unnecessary and illegitimate intrusions on voters’ privacy,” Hobbs said in an emailed statement.
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