State officials certify election results as DOJ sues over voter-registration data

State officials held a brief ceremony to sign and distribute certified election results and addressed a newly filed Department of Justice lawsuit seeking voter-registration information.

The officials displayed and handed over certified copies of the results, with one attendee saying, "So that's what makes it official." Shortly after the certification, Speaker 4 noted the DOJ had filed a lawsuit against the state seeking voter-registration information and asked for a response. Speaker 2 replied, "I'm not handing over private information," and said they had not been served and learned of the filing from news reports.

Speaker 2 said the office has told DOJ it can provide registration lists without private fields such as full Social Security numbers or complete birth dates, and asked DOJ how it planned to use the data; Speaker 2 said the office received no substantive response. "We did ask attorney Dylan for the information ... and we have gotten no response," Speaker 2 said, describing an offer to cooperate using non-sensitive fields.

Speaker 1 emphasized the state's obligation to protect residents' personal information and expressed confidence in the state's prospects in litigation with the federal administration on related matters, but did not provide procedural details about the lawsuit. The officials repeatedly said they would not disclose private identifiers and that both state and federal law limit sharing of that data.

The ceremony was largely procedural, focused on formalizing certified results and acknowledging the elections staff. Officials directed thanks to election workers and said copies of the certification would be kept on file. The office said it is willing to discuss production of non-sensitive registration data but, as of the event, DOJ had not engaged on that offer.