Trump admin loses again in bid for Michigan voter rolls

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Michigan’s free newsletter here.

What happened?

A federal appeals court has ruled that Michigan does not have to turn over its unredacted voter roll to the Department of Justice, dealing the Trump administration its highest-profile loss yet in its quest to obtain voter data from states ahead of the 2026 midterms.

What’s the dispute?

Since last year, the Department of Justice has demanded lists of registered voters from virtually every state, including Michigan in July. The state turned over the public version of its voter file but refused to turn over personally identifying information such as partial Social Security numbers.

In response, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Michigan in September but lost in district court in February after a judge dismissed the case, arguing that none of the laws cited by the department required the disclosure. The department then appealed the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which agreed with the lower court’s reasoning.

Related:

In addition to Michigan, the department has sued 29 other states and Washington, D.C., to compel them to share their voter rolls. (Seventeen states have complied voluntarily.) So far, lower courts have dismissed several of those lawsuits, with none finding in favor of the Department of Justice.

What is the plaintiff asking for?

The Department of Justice has argued that a number of federal laws, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, entitle it to access to the unredacted voter rolls, including voters’ personal information. Many states have declined to provide that information, arguing that it would pose privacy concerns and violate state law. Federal officials have not provided an official reason for their requests, but they appear to be looking for noncitizen voters on the rolls.

What happens now?

Michigan’s case is the first to be heard, and be ruled on, at the appellate level. The next step up would be to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Department of Justice officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Even if the case is taken up by the country’s highest court, a resolution — particularly one that could be meaningfully implemented — before the midterm elections is unlikely. Absentee ballots for the Michigan primary election start going out Thursday.

Read more Votebeat coverage of the DOJ’s fight for access to voting rolls:

Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org. Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.