The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore this week for refusing to turn over the state's complete voter registration list, escalating a monthslong standoff over election data that has now landed in federal court.
According to the lawsuit, the DOJ requested an electronic copy of Rhode Island's statewide voter rolls in a September 8 letter, seeking full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and either driver's license numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Amore refused roughly a week later, arguing the records contain personal information protected under state law. The department has framed the request as routine list-maintenance oversight required under federal election statutes, and the lawsuit states any data received would be handled consistent with Privacy Act protections.
Rhode Island already makes basic voter rolls available to the public for a $25 fee, but the DOJ is after the unredacted file, the kind of sensitive data typically withheld even from standard public records requests. Rhode Island is one of roughly 30 states now facing similar DOJ litigation over voter rolls nationwide, part of a broader push by the administration to scrutinize state election administration for potential fraud and noncitizen voting. Judges have dismissed the bulk of those suits so far, and the department has lost at least one on appeal, though Attorney General Todd Blanche has floated taking the fight to the Supreme Court.
Amore, a Democrat and former high school history teacher, called the request "a continued attempt to promote the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen" when he first rebuffed the DOJ over the summer.
The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling Amore to hand over the list within five days of the filing, setting up a fast-moving legal fight in Providence federal court over how far Washington can reach into state-run elections.
