A federal judge on April 28 dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes that sought access to state voter registration data.
Judge Susan Brnovich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona wrote in a 13-page ruling that Arizona’s voter registration list is “not a document subject to request by the Attorney General“ and that the DOJ did not provide sufficient argument to ”convince the court” to allow access to the data.
“Accordingly, the Court will dismiss the Attorney General’s claim with prejudice because amendment would be legally futile,” Brnovich wrote.
The DOJ filed its lawsuit against Fontes’s office in January, saying he refused to provide the department with the list in August 2025.
It asked for Fontes to provide the DOJ with “the current electronic copy of Arizona’s computerized statewide voter registration list, with all fields, including each registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and either their state driver’s license number, the last four digits of their Social Security number, or [Help America Vote Act] unique identifier” within five days of a court order.
The DOJ had argued that the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act require that states maintain voter lists to ensure their accuracy. Further, it said that Congress provided the attorney general with the capacity to request state voting records under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
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