A Republican judge handed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche his 10th straight court loss in the Department of Justice's quest to force states to hand over voter rolls.
Judge Joseph N. LaPlante, a George W. Bush appointee in New Hampshire, dismissed every count of the federal government's lawsuit against the state Monday. No court has granted the Justice Department's request.
"The Attorney General all but abandoned any allegation that a HAVA violation had taken place," LaPlante wrote.
HAVA — the Help America Vote Act — was one of two laws DOJ used to justify seizing states' voter rolls, including full names, addresses, driver's license numbers and the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers.
"The demand does not identify any factual anomalies in New Hampshire's voter registration data, nor does it point to any complaint or pattern suggesting noncompliance," LaPlante wrote.
"'Absurd results' would follow from forcing states to hand over their own voter databases, LaPlante wrote — the law was never meant to reach 'a state's own evolving work product.'"
The stakes go beyond New Hampshire. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, DOJ demanded full, unredacted voter rolls from at least 44 states and Washington, D.C. Most have refused.
DOJ drafted agreements requiring states to remove any voters the federal government flagged within 45 days — a power the federal government has never held before, the Brennan Center reported. DOJ also admitted in court that a Department of Government Efficiency employee at the Social Security Administration signed an agreement with an outside group whose stated aim was to "find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States."
Politico's Kyle Cheney first flagged Monday's ruling, noting that it was the 10th straight loss over the demand for state voter rolls.
