U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom sided with Kentucky election officials Thursday as she dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit seeking private voter rolls, which include driver’s license and social security numbers.
It’s part of a broader losing streak for the DOJ, which has sued 30 states and Washington D.C. after they refused to hand over the sensitive voter data. Federal judges across the country have ruled against the lawsuits, saying that federal law doesn’t grant the administration unfettered access to state voter rolls.
In her Thursday opinion, Boom pointed to a recent 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling — under whose jurisdiction Kentucky falls — that came to the same conclusion in Michigan. It was the first appellate court to rule against President Donald Trump’s attempt to access private voter registration data; the DOJ has already asked the full appellate court to rehear the case.
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said on X that “Kentucky’s elections are secure, and so is your personal information.” Adams had taken a defiant stance on the request, previously saying he would not “voluntarily commit a data breach” unless the courts ordered him to do so.
Adams said the state provided redacted voter registration records to the administration, but would not provide the full unredacted rolls.
The Trump administration has shared voter information with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in their search for noncitizens. They have built out an expansive citizenship verification program called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program, or SAVE, to identify noncitizens. However, the recently revamped tool has come under scrutiny as outlets report its rollout in other states has been plagued with persistent errors.
Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill this year that authorizes, but doesn’t necessarily require, the State Board of Elections to use federal citizen verification systems. It would require that individuals found ineligible through those systems to prove their citizenship before they are allowed to vote.
Jefferson County Clerk David Yates, who asked to intervene in the case, applauded the ruling Thursday and said in a statement that election officials followed all of their legal obligations.
“What we would not do is surrender confidential personal information that the law protects," Yates said. "This ruling confirms that transparency in elections can and must coexist with strong safeguards for voter privacy. Our responsibility is not only to maintain accurate voter rolls, but also to protect the millions of Kentuckians who entrust us with their personal information."
Several voting rights advocacy groups and two voters asked to intervene in the case. In a joint statement, the advocacy groups said they believe the DOJ intended to “weaponize” the information against voters.
“In a moment where President Trump continues to weaponize the DOJ against the American people and attempts to sow doubt and chaos into our elections, we are proud to have represented Kentucky voters and civic organizations in challenging this federal overreach, and will continue to defend voter privacy and access to the ballot," reads the statement from the New Americans Alliance, League of Women Voters of Kentucky and ACLU of Kentucky.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
