MADISON – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice that sought to gain access to confidential information of voters that state election officials argue is protected by Wisconsin law.
The federal lawsuit was one of more than two dozen the Trump administration has filed across the country against states with Democratic governors seeking those states’ voter lists without personal information redacted.
Since it was filed, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have questioned a top state election official about conspiracy theories about Wisconsin’s 2020 election and sought interviews with Milwaukee election workers who helped administer the 2020 election.
The U.S. Department of Justice, in its lawsuit, demanded the state’s unredacted list of voters, including the names, date of birth, residential address, drivers license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers of every Wisconsin voter.
While the state’s voter lists are available to purchase, state law bars the release of such confidential information, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Trump officials could purchase a copy of the state’s voter list that includes just names and addresses for $12,500.
The lawsuit against Wisconsin officials was filed after five of the six members of the bipartisan commission voted in December to reject the demand, citing state law.
Federal justice officials say the department wants the information “to test, analyze, and assess states’ [voter roll lists] for proper list maintenance and compliance with federal law.”
“In the event the Justice Department’s analysis of a [voter roll list] results in list maintenance issues, insufficiency, inadequacy, anomalies, or concerns, the Justice Department will notify your state’s point of contact of the issues to assist your state with curing,” a proposed agreement put forward by the U.S. DOJ said.
U.S. District Judge James Peterson, who is based in Madison, issued the decision to dismiss the federal request on Thursday, May 21. A Wisconsin Elections Commission spokeswoman declined to comment. A U.S. DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division said, “The law is clear: states need to give us this information, so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from vote dilution.”
Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in a post on X, “The Trump Administration only wants this info so they can prevent eligible Wisconsinites from voting, sow doubt in our secure elections, make it harder for our clerks and administrators to do their jobs, and claim there’s fraud when they lose elections.”
The pursuit of this information is part of a new focus from President Donald Trump on election administration, which follows a drumbeat of false claims about the integrity of the nation’s elections from Trump and his top supporters.
Just two states, Indiana and Wyoming, have supplied the data sought by the Trump administration, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The demand to Wisconsin officials came after DOJ officials in 2025 threatened to withhold funding for the state elections commission over alleged violations of federal law even though agency leaders said there is no funding to cut.
The federal authorities in July also asked for information on incidents of election fraud from Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, who does not oversee elections like her counterparts in other states.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge blocks DOJ suit seeking confidential Wisconsin voter information
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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