ATLANTA — A federal judge has dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking sensitive information about Georgia’s registered voters.
The lawsuit demanded the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office turn over confidential voter registration information, including birth dates, driver’s license numbers and Social Security information.
Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Robert Sinners said state law does not allow the office to provide unredacted personal information to a third party.
“State law is crystal clear on this, that the state cannot turnover unredacted personal information to any third party; and the secretary will always follow the law and follow the constitution,” Sinners said.
Federal Judge Victoria Calvert found that federal law does not preempt the state’s voter privacy laws in this case. Calvert also found that the Secretary of State’s Office’s current voter list maintenance efforts comply with federal election law.
“This lawsuit from day one has been about protecting the sensitive information of Georgia voters and protecting state law,” Sinners said.
The Georgia case is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to obtain voter information from states ahead of the midterm elections. The Justice Department has filed similar legal actions against 30 states seeking voter information.
Some states have complied with requests for the information, while others have provided only information that is already publicly available.
Sinners said Georgia is among more than two dozen jurisdictions that have successfully challenged the Justice Department’s demands.
“Secretary Raffensperger stated that he will always protect the sensitive personal information of Georgians in accordance with the law and the constitution. He’s not going to give in and break the law for anyone, period,” Sinners said.
More than two dozen of the similar cases filed by the Justice Department have been dismissed.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Veronica Waters contributed to this story.