OLYMPIA — The federal government cannot force Washington state to give it the private information of all registered Washington voters, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismisses the federal government’s case, which sought to compel the Office of the Secretary of State to break state law and provide the Department of Justice the unredacted private information of millions of Washington voters.
The Attorney General’s Office represented the Office of the Secretary of State in this case.
“Today’s decision reaffirms that my office has every right to protect voters’ private data,” said Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. “The DOJ has now lost 25 of these cases. Baseless demands for state voter rolls are part of a broader pattern of federal overreach in states’ elections. The DOJ does not have the authority or any reason to interfere with state election administration. We are grateful that the court dismissed this case and upheld our constitutional authority to administer elections.”
“This was the likeliest of victories for democracy: Trump’s DOJ is now 0 for 25 nationwide in efforts to plunder the private information of states’ voters,” said Attorney General Nick Brown. “We should not have to spend election season defending voters from their president, but victory after victory reminds us there is hope for the rule of law.”
In September 2025, the DOJ demanded election officials in almost all 50 states provide it the unredacted private information of all registered voters, such as voters’ birthdates, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Washington refused, because such a demand violates state and federal law. Washington offered to provide DOJ a redacted list that did not include private information, but DOJ responded with a lawsuit to compel the production of an unredacted list.
In dismissing the federal government’s lawsuit, the judge said: “the Government’s demand for voter data violates federal law.”
The Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Secretary of State will continue to work together to protect Washington’s elections and support the local offices administering them. Read the order.
Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State oversees areas within state government including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office operates the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, and administers the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees and the Productivity Board state employee suggestion program. The Secretary of State oversees the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime and the Civic Engagement Program to increase governmental trust and participation for all Washingtonians.