By Sam Barron | Wednesday, 24 June 2026 10:06 PM EDT
A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Michigan does not have to hand over the personal information of registered voters. The release of birth dates, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers is not covered by a law cited by the Department of Justice, as stated in a 2-1 opinion from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a federal judge’s decision in Lansing, Michigan.
The court ruled that Title III of the 1960 Civil Rights Act does not require the Justice Department to force Michigan to hand over its voter rolls. The voter rolls contain a person’s date of birth, partial Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers for every registered voter in the state.
The Trump administration has been repeatedly defeated in court in its attempts to get states to turn over voter information. Federal judges have rejected efforts in Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, while a lawsuit was dismissed in Georgia because the government filed it in the wrong city.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, previously said that the federal government could receive only a list of registered voters. The Trump administration has stated it wants voter personal information to ensure Michigan complies with federal election law, citing “anomalies” and other complaints about the state.
Attorneys for Michigan argued that the government seeks to create a national voter file and share information with the Department of Homeland Security to determine whether noncitizens registered to vote or voted. Thirteen states have either provided or promised to hand over their voter registration lists: Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
