A federal judge has rejected the Department of Justice’s attempt to access New Jersey’s unredacted voter rolls, siding with the state’s decision to keep voters’ personal information private from the federal government.
District Judge Zahid Quraishi made this ruling in the context of a broader conflict between the Trump administration and Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill regarding New Jersey’s voter rolls. While these issues are not directly linked, the DOJ’s lawsuit was initiated months before Sherrill disclosed that the state had mistakenly included 6,600 noncitizens on its voter rolls during 2023 and 2024.
In July 2025, the DOJ requested a complete copy of New Jersey’s voter registration list as part of a national initiative to obtain voter records. The state’s Division of Elections complied but excluded driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, citing privacy concerns.
This led to a prolonged exchange with the DOJ over the release of these details, culminating in a lawsuit filed in February to force the state to provide the omitted information. This case is part of a series of similar lawsuits filed by the Trump administration against state election officials nationwide.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, stated during the filing, “The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its oversight role dutifully, neutrally, and transparently wherever Americans vote in federal elections. Many state election officials, however, are choosing to fight us in court rather than show their work.”
Judge Quraishi, who did not hold oral arguments, determined on multiple grounds that the DOJ could not force New Jersey to disclose its unredacted records. He noted that judges in over a dozen other states had reached similar conclusions in related cases.
“This Court … joins at least sixteen other district courts including a sister court — and one circuit — in dismissing Plaintiff’s claim,” Quraishi wrote in his decision.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport expressed gratitude for Quraishi’s ruling, stating, “Every court to consider the question, now totaling seventeen district courts and a federal court of appeals, have unanimously rejected this clear federal overreach.”
Despite this decision, the DOJ announced its intent to appeal, expressing disagreement with the ruling in a brief statement.
The issue of New Jersey’s voter rolls gained national attention after Sherrill revealed a Motor Vehicle Commission error that allowed thousands to register to vote between June 2023 and June 2024, with about 400 noncitizens casting ballots in subsequent elections.
The Trump administration quickly seized on this incident as evidence of voter fraud, a concern the president has frequently voiced regarding states led by Democrats. The DOJ requested information on the 6,600 noncitizens added to the rolls, a demand Sherrill officially denied on Tuesday.
Another legal battle over New Jersey’s voter data unfolded recently; last week, a different district judge rejected the Republican National Committee’s bid to access state voter roll information.
