CHARLESTON – The U.S. Department of Justice said in a legal filing Thursday that it has the right to access unredacted voter registration files held by the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office.

Attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a memorandum Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia in response to a motion filed at the end of April by attorneys for Secretary of State Kris Warner, which sought to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the DOJ seeking unredacted voter registration files.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a U.S. assistant attorney general with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State’s Office on Feb. 26 after Warner sent a written response to the DOJ denying its request. The federal government wants to compel the production of unredacted statewide voter registration lists to investigate compliance with federal election laws, such as the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

While attorneys for the Secretary of State’s office argue that such a demand violates state privacy laws and exceeds federal authority, the DOJ argues that Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) provides a broad mandate to inspect all election records. The government contends that this investigative tool is essential for verifying the accuracy of voter rolls and identifying potential violations.

“Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 … empowers the United States to obtain federal election records upon written demand,” wrote Christopher Gardner, a trial attorney for the voting section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “When a State refuses to comply with the demand, Title III provides that the United States may seek ‘appropriate process to compel the production’ of those federal election records.

“The United States made a written demand to Secretary of State Warner for West Virginia’s statewide voter registration list,” Gardner continued. “Secretary Warner refused to comply with that demand, necessitating this action.”

The DOJ began sending letters to state election officials last summer requiring states to turn over voter registration databases to federal law enforcement officials. DOJ officials first contacted the Secretary of State’s Office last September seeking this data, with follow-up letters sent in December and January.

The Secretary of State’s Office argues that the DOJ failed to provide any factual basis for seeking the unredacted voter registration records and has not provided a stated purpose for the records. State Code only allows the release of redacted voter registration files. The Secretary of State’s Office also argues that the DOJ request violates several federal privacy laws.

The DOJ has requested similar data from 47 states. West Virginia is one of 29 states being sued for refusing to turn over voter registration data. Five other federal courts – including in California, Michigan and Oregon – have dismissed similar complaints.

The DOJ’s memorandum argues that federal supremacy and specific non-disclosure provisions within the Civil Rights Act override state-level redaction requirements.

“West Virginia law makes certain information confidential from public disclosure … But the United States is not asking for public disclosure of West Virginia’s SVRL (Statewide Voter Registration List),” Gardner explained. “It is requesting an intergovernmental transfer of the data authorized by federal laws and regulations … to assess West Virginia’s compliance with federal election law. Pursuant to the CRA’s privacy provisions and the Privacy Act, none of the information obtained will be publicly disclosed.”

The responsibility for voter registration maintenance falls on the state’s 55 county clerks, and only county clerks can add or remove voters from the rolls. The Secretary of State’s Office only maintains a statewide voter registration database and online portal for residents to register or update registrations, which are then transmitted to the appropriate county clerk. The Secretary of State’s Office offered to provide redacted voter registration files, but the DOJ refused.

President Donald Trump is pushing for a federal voter registration database to remove ineligible voters, such as illegal immigrants, from state voter rolls traditionally handled by state and local election officials. Trump signed an executive order last year instructing federal agencies to obtain state voter registration records, directing the Department of Homeland Security to cross-check publicly available voter registration information against NVRA records and federal immigration databases.