Michigan’s registered voters will keep their personal information protected after a federal appeals court handed the Trump administration another legal setback on Wednesday.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a federal law cited by the U.S. Justice Department does not require Michigan to turn over voter birth dates, driver’s license numbers, or partial Social Security numbers. The ruling upholds an earlier decision made by a federal judge in Lansing, Michigan.
Michigan is far from alone in this legal battle. Courts have also blocked similar federal demands in Maryland, Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. In Georgia, a judge threw out the government’s lawsuit on procedural grounds because it was filed in the wrong city, leading the government to refile the case in a different location.
Michigan’s Secretary of State, a Democrat named Jocelyn Benson, stated that under federal law, the government is only entitled to the same basic voter registration list available to any ordinary member of the public.
The Trump administration argued it needs the detailed voter information to verify that Michigan is following federal election law, pointing to what it described as “anomalies” and other concerns raised in court documents.
Michigan’s legal team pushed back, arguing the administration’s true intentions go further — including building a national voter database and sharing the information with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to check whether any non-citizens may have registered or cast ballots.
Not all states have resisted. According to the Brennan Center for Justice and Associated Press reporting, at least 13 states have already handed over or agreed to provide their voter registration lists to the federal government: Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
