Feds sue California over its voter rolls

Justice Department argues officials of this state and others must hand over the records.

- BY KEVIN RECTOR

CALIFORNIA Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

The U.S. Justice Department sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber on Thursday for failing to hand over the state's voter rolls, alleging she is unlawfully preventing federal authorities from ensuring state compliance with federal voting regulations and safeguarding federal elections against fraud.

The Justice Department also sued Weber's counterparts in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, who have similarly declined its requests for their states' voter rolls.

"Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections," Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a statement on the litigation. "Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure states that don't fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court."

In its lawsuit against Weber, who is the state's top elections official, the Justice Department argues that it is charged including under the National Voter Registration Act with ensuring that states have proper protocols for registering voters and maintaining accurate and up-to-date rolls, and therefore is due access to state voter rolls to ensure they are so maintained.

"The United States has now been forced to bring the instant action to seek legal remedy for Defendants' refusal to comply with lawful requests pursuant to federal law," the lawsuit states.

Weber, in a statement, called the lawsuit "a fishing expedition and pretext for partisan policy objectives," a "blatant overreach" and "an unprecedented intrusion unsupported by law or any previous practice or policy of the U.S. Department of Justice."