Federal judge dismisses Justice Department suit over Utah's voter data

A federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a Justice Department lawsuit seeking Utah's complete, unredacted voter registration list, Gephardt Daily reported. Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, the state's chief election officer and the named defendant, announced the ruling Friday. ^[1]

The department sought voters' birth dates, driver's license numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers, saying it needed them to assess Utah's compliance with federal voter registration laws. Henderson had provided the publicly available version but withheld protected information. ^[1]

U.S. District Judge David Barlow ruled that the disclosure requirements of Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which the department cited, do not extend to Utah's compiled statewide voter list. He distinguished records that come into an election official's possession from a list the official creates from information received from county clerks. He said amending the complaint would be futile. ^[1]

The dispute escalated in September, when the department told Henderson she was under investigation over her compliance with federal election laws. She accused the department of baselessly harassing election officials, and the department said its preservation letters were standard litigation practice. The department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., and, before Friday, courts had dismissed 26 of those cases, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. ^[1]