Robert F Kennedy Department of Justice building sign on stone wall.

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

The Justice Department has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Maryland’s top election officials of refusing to hand over the state’s complete voter registration list, saying the move violates federal civil rights and election laws designed to ensure accurate voter rolls.

Maryland is one of six states sued this week — alongside Delaware, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — but federal officials made clear that Maryland’s alleged noncompliance triggered a months-long investigation and repeated demands that went unanswered.

“Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in announcing the lawsuits, adding that too many states “have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance.” 

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said states that defy federal voting laws “interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls.”

At the center of the Maryland case is State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis, who the DOJ says repeatedly rejected requests for an un-redacted, statewide electronic voter registration list — a document Maryland is required by federal law to maintain and preserve.

According to the lawsuit, the DOJ reviewed Maryland’s responses to the 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey and, in July 2025, sent DeMarinis a detailed letter seeking information about how Maryland keeps its voter rolls accurate. 

That letter included a demand for a complete electronic copy of Maryland’s statewide voter registration list with all fields, including full name, date of birth, residential address, driver’s license number, last four digits of Social Security number, or the unique identifier required under the Help America Vote Act.

Maryland refused, twice directing federal officials to only the publicly available subset of its rolls instead of the full database required under federal law, officials claim. 

When DOJ restated its demand in August and invoked the Civil Rights Act of 1960 — which gives the Attorney General sweeping authority to inspect election records — Maryland again denied the request.

Federal officials say the state has no legal basis to withhold the information. 

HAVA explicitly states that the last four digits of a Social Security number “shall not be considered a Social Security number” under federal privacy law, and the Driver’s License Protection Act allows disclosure when requested by a government agency for enforcement purposes.

By law, the DOJ only has to show that it made a proper written demand and Maryland refused. 

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Maryland to order DeMarinis to produce the full statewide voter registration list within five days of the court’s order.

The case marks an escalation in DOJ’s voter-roll enforcement efforts, but Maryland is one of the few states directly accused of withholding a complete voter list in violation of the Civil Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act.

Federal officials say they will continue filing actions until states comply. The complete lawsuit filed this week can be found here.

"States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. 

"At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws."

Check Daily Voice for updates.