Full Breakdown
Federal Judge Dismisses DOJ Lawsuit Over Georgia Voter Data
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: Lawsuit Dismissed
On September 30, 2026, U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert ruled that the Justice Department’s request for Georgia’s complete voter rolls violated state law. The suit, filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Trump administration, sought unredacted personal information—including birthdates, addresses, and driver’s-license numbers—from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office. Judge Calvert held that the Civil Rights Act’s Title III does not preempt Georgia’s voter-privacy statutes and that neither the National Voter Registration Act nor the Help America Vote Act compel the state to disclose the requested data. Consequently, the case was dismissed, ending the federal government’s second attempt to obtain the records.
Legal Background
Georgia law requires that voter-registration data remain confidential unless the state itself releases it. The Justice Department argued that federal election-security statutes gave it authority to demand the information, but the court found no explicit congressional intent to override state privacy protections. The earlier lawsuit, dismissed in January, was also thrown out after a judge ruled the DOJ should have sued in Atlanta rather than the Macon federal district where Raffensperger maintains an office.
Official Statements & Responses
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the ruling affirmed his commitment to safeguarding Georgians’ personal data and that his office had already shared the public portion of the voter roll and details on how outdated registrations are removed each December. The Justice Department maintains that states refusing the data are violating federal law, describing the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure election security ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Verbatim Quotes
- “I will always protect the sensitive personal information of Georgians, in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” — State Brad Raffensperger
Why It Matters
The dismissal reinforces state authority over voter-information privacy and limits the federal government’s ability to collect sensitive data from individual states before elections. The decision may shape how the Justice Department pursues similar requests in other states and could influence the broader debate over election-security measures versus voter-privacy protections.
