Federal judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit against Massachusetts after it refused to turn over voter data

A federal court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against Massachusetts’ state elections chief after he refused to turn over voter registration data for millions of people, adding to a string of legal defeats in the Trump administration’s bid to collect state voter roll information.

The Justice Department sued Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin in December after Galvin did not turn over data, including driver’s license numbers, home addresses, and partial Social Security numbers.

Judge Leo Sorokin, an Obama appointee, dismissed the federal government’s lawsuit on Thursday, saying the Trump administration did not sufficiently explain why it had a legal right to obtain that information.