The Trump Administration’s Astonishing Losing Record on Voter Rolls
Not one single court has approved of the Department of Justice’s plans.
The Trump administration's approach to voter rolls has been marked by a string of losses in court battles. From September 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia, aiming to collect sensitive voter information to identify noncitizen voting and curb voter fraud. Under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the division has been vocal about this top priority, claiming they will eventually win these cases.
However, the administration has not secured a single victory in its litigation, with 26 cases lost in district court and none won. Judges from both Democratic and Republican backgrounds, including some nominated by President Trump, have rejected the administration's demands. The problem lies in the decentralized nature of elections in America, where states and local jurisdictions maintain their own voter rolls, including sensitive data.
Trump's executive order, signed in March 2025, tasked DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with comparing state voter rolls against DHS systems. However, many states, concerned about privacy, refused to comply with the federal government's request. DOJ's lawsuits primarily targeted blue states, but later expanded to purple and even red states, such as Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Idaho.
Despite the administration's aggressive stance, the courts have repeatedly affirmed the right of American citizens to trust in the integrity of the electoral process.
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