Justice Department Appeals Voter ID Loss in 4 States

District court decisions in Maine, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Rhode Island will now be reviewed by their respective federal appellate circuit courts.

Juliette Fairley

Published: 6/8/2026, 1:55:39 PM EDT

Justice Department Appeals Voter ID Loss in 4 States — A general view of the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis., on March 6, 2011. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed four more voter registration disclosure losses.

District court decisions in Maine, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Rhode Island will now be reviewed by their respective federal appellate circuit courts.

The Maine appeal was filed against Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on June 5 in the First Circuit, while the Wisconsin appeal was filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission in the 7th Circuit.

The United States maintains 11 numbered federal appellate circuit courts.

United States v. Bellows was dismissed last month by Maine’s Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker who ruled the United States cannot employ Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) to compel production of Maine’s Statewide Voter Registration List (SVRL) because it is a product of the state’s labors.

“I am also persuaded that the United States’ stated purpose for its request is insufficient,” Walker said in his May 21 dismissal order. “Each individual state, and not the U.S. Department of Justice, is the master of its voter list, entrusted with its administration and maintenance.”

Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) requires that a written demand include both the purpose and the basis when the U.S. Attorney General requires voting records from a state.

United States v. Wisconsin Elections Commission was dismissed on the same day and in a similar fashion by Wisconsin District Judge James D. Peterson, who ruled that a voter registration list is not a record that can be demanded under the CRA.

“Voter registration lists are not documents subject to production under Title III,” Peterson wrote in his May 21 dismissal ruling. “That makes it unnecessary to decide whether the government has complied with the other statutory requirements to demand records.”

On June 3, the DOJ appealed United States v Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to the Ninth Circuit after U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona Judge Susan Marie Skibba Brnovich’s dismissal.

Brnovich cited 52 U.S.C. § 20701, a provision under CRA that requires state election officers to retain and preserve certain election-related documents

“Arizona’s SVRL is not a document subject to request by the Attorney General pursuant to § 20703,” Brnovich wrote in her April 28 rejection. “Nevertheless, the Attorney General still contends that Arizona’s [SVRL] falls within Section [20701]’s broad definition of ‘all records and papers’ relating to registration to vote in federal elections.’ The Court disagrees.”

Rhode Island and Maine share the First Circuit federal appellate court

In USA v Secretary of State Gregg Amore, Rhode Island district judge Mary S. McElroy noted that the issue of what documents are covered by 52 U.S.C. § 20701 has not been a heavily litigated issue and dropped the resolution of the matter into the hands of the First Circuit.