A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit that sought to access New Hampshire’s unredacted voter registration list.
Judge Joseph Laplante found that the U.S. attorney general’s request for those records failed to provide a factual basis or any pattern of noncompliance to justify why the federal government should review them.
“I am committed to protecting the private information of New Hampshire voters to the fullest extent required by law,” Secretary of State David Scanlan said in a statement. “Today’s court order affirms that I fulfilled that commitment by upholding New Hampshire law and safeguarding your private information from disclosure.”
Some information about voters — like their names, addresses and party identification — is already publicly available in New Hampshire and is available for viewing at the state archives.
The Trump administration had sought more sensitive information about voters, including their birthdays, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. Attorneys argued the federal government requested the information because it has a duty to make sure states are maintaining clean voter rolls and practicing fair and secure elections.
After Scanlan declined to hand those records over, citing state law that prohibits him from releasing confidential information, the Trump administration sued New Hampshire last fall.
The U.S. attorney general tried to compel Scanlan to turn over the records, arguing that New Hampshire had failed to maintain its voter list because its rate of removing duplicate names was lower than the national average.
“The mere contention that New Hampshire’s duplicate identification rates are lower
than the national average, without more, cannot support a lawsuit allowing the Attorney
General unrestricted access” to New Hampshire’s voter files, Laplante wrote in the order.
The Trump administration filed similar lawsuits in several other states. None of those lawsuits have been successful so far.
