By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for access to the state’s voter rolls.
The Justice Department said information provided by Raffensperger’s office did not include all of the information requested, including the voter’s full name, date of birth, residential address, state driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Raffensperger said he shared the state’s maintenance practices and public voter roll data with the Justice Department on Dec. 8.
“Georgia has the cleanest voter rolls in the country because we verify citizenship through the federal SAVE database, use SSA data to remove dead voters, and share data with other states to identify and remove voters who have moved,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “We look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls. Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protect voters’ privacy.”
The Justice Department is asking a judge to cite Raffensperger under the Civil Rights Act and order him to provide the date with all the information within five days of any court order.
Last week, Fulton County Clerk of Court Che Alexander was also accused by the Justice Department of failing to produce voter rolls. The clerk’s office said it is not at liberty to comment on pending legislation.
Trump has been at odds with Raffensperger after a 2021 phone call with President Donald Trump, in which the president told Raffensperger, “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” referring to the number by which he was trailing former President Joe Biden in the race. Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election in Georgia.
The phone call between Trump and Raffensperger was part of an indictment against Trump and 18 others on election interference charges. The case was dismissed last month.
The District of Columbia, Illinois and Wisconsin were also sued on Thursday, bringing the number of states facing lawsuits over their voter rolls to 22.
“The law is clear: states need to give us this information, so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from vote dilution,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a release. “Today’s filings show that regardless of which party is in charge of a particular state, the Department of Justice will firmly stand on the side of election integrity and transparency.”
Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi voluntarily released their voter rolls, according to the Justice Department.
TCS was unsuccessful prior to publication getting confirmation from Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office.