By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold escalated her standoff with the Trump administration this week, rejecting a request for the state’s full, unredacted voter file. “We will not comply with the Trump Department of Justice’s request for Coloradans’ sensitive voting information. The DOJ can take a hike; it does not have a legal right to the information. Colorado will not help Donald Trump undermine our elections and hurt the American people.”
On December 1, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division asked the state to enter an agreement to share complete voter data, including names, dates of birth, residential addresses and full driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Griswold said she provided only the publicly available data required by law.
Federal pressure grows as states uncover voter roll failures
Colorado’s refusal comes as the DOJ expands lawsuits into at least 14 states for denying similar requests. Those suits outline why the DOJ says it needs full data.
In Minnesota, federal officials are asking a judge to order the state to produce its entire statewide voter file with “all fields,” including active and inactive voters, full names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
North Carolina’s elections board is pressing the DMV to share full Social Security numbers so staff can scrub the voter rolls more thoroughly. Those same officials now concede the state’s verification system has to be strengthened.
North Carolina finds noncitizen registrations during federal probe
In North Carolina, a federal inquiry uncovered multiple noncitizens on the voter rolls, some for years. According to a WBTV investigation, affected individuals said they had no idea they were registered. Records show a U.S. Attorney pressed the DMV after it claimed it found “no systemic issues,” even as internal reviews pointed to staff checking the wrong box on citizenship forms.
State elections officials are now asking the DMV to hand over full Social Security numbers so they can run a deeper check of the voter rolls. Those same officials now concede the state’s verification system has to be strengthened.
Michigan grapples with major registration discrepancies
Michigan is facing its own questions after state senator Ruth Johnson said 36 percent of last year’s new registrations had invalid four-digit Social Security numbers but were accepted anyway. She also pointed to numbers showing Michigan has about 500,000 more people on the voter rolls than residents of voting age.
Critics argue that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has passed voter information to a range of nonprofit groups.
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island reveal deeper inconsistencies
In Pennsylvania, Judicial Watch says state officials admitted the DMV had allowed noncitizens to register through Motor Voter for decades, with an estimated 100,000 records affected. North Carolina’s findings mirrored that pattern.
Rhode Island’s Secretary of State said he provided the DOJ with a standard public voter list but refused to release unredacted data. The DOJ sued. Federal lawsuits have now expanded to Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington.
Colorado’s own history complicates the refusal
Griswold argues the DOJ request threatens voter privacy, but Colorado has faced its own registration controversies.
In 2022, her office mailed 31,093 postcards to noncitizens encouraging them to register because of an ERIC data mismatch with the state’s driver’s license system. Correction notices were sent, and the state blocked those individuals from using the online registration system.
County clerks asked for the list of recipients, but Deputy Secretary Christopher Beall said the office could not share it due to “potential legal issues.”
The office says it now safeguards against automatic registration attempts using noncitizen driver’s licenses, but past errors have raised concerns among outside watchdogs.
Public Interest Legal Foundation and Judicial Watch have both sued the state for access to list maintenance records. Judicial Watch’s case revealed the state had reported incorrect removal numbers during discovery, revising its total from 306,303 to 161,607.
Last month, Douglas Frank highlighted Mesa County as an example, pointing to data he says shows the county’s voter registration totals exceed its voting age population. He argued Colorado “agreed to clean up their voter rolls” under the Judicial Watch settlement but is adding more registrations than it removes. The Secretary of State’s office disputes those claims.
The disagreements reflect the broader lack of consensus over the accuracy of Colorado’s voter rolls as the state refuses to provide the DOJ with the same data other states are now being sued for withholding.
A national fight with state-by-state consequences
Griswold said the DOJ’s request “goes far beyond what is necessary to evaluate compliance with federal law” and warned that releasing unredacted voter information “would undermine Coloradans’ trust in how their information is handled.”
She noted the DOJ has already sued more than a dozen states, saying Colorado will comply with federal law without exposing sensitive information.
Whether the DOJ files a lawsuit against Colorado now depends on whether the state is treated like others that have refused similar requests. If it does, the national battle over voter roll data will move directly into federal court.
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