The Vermont attorney general’s office asked a federal judge last week to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that seeks to force the state to turn over voter data.
The U.S Department of Justice sued Vermont in December after Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas refused to share voter registration information, including personally identifiable details, with the federal government.
The Trump administration sent Vermont, and a number of other states, requests for voter registration lists that included full names, birth dates, home addresses, driver’s license numbers and parts of people’s social security numbers, according to the Department of Justice’s lawsuit.
The department said in its filing that it requested the information to make sure Vermont was complying with voter list maintenance requirements.
The state, in its filing, argued that the Department of Justice failed to provide a valid reason why it needed the records.
“Nothing in the United States’ demand letter contains any indication that the United States suspects Vermont of violating the [Civil Rights Act] or any other federal law, nor does the demand letter contain any explanation for why the requested documents might be relevant to the United States’ inquiry,” the state wrote in its filing.
The state also argued that no federal statute preempts Vermonters’ voter privacy protections, which limit the disclosure of personal information.
The Trump administration has requested voter data from at least 26 states and sued more than a dozen states that refused to give the information over, according to the Associated Press.
A federal judge dismissed one of those lawsuits, against the state of California, last week.
