Justice Department Sues CT For Failure To Provide Voter Rolls

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has added Arizona and Connecticut to the list of states being sued for failure to provide their full voter registration lists.

“This Department of Justice has now sued 23 states for failing to provide voter roll data and will continue filing lawsuits to protect American elections,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “Accurate voter rolls are the foundation of election integrity, and any state that fails to meet this basic obligation of transparency can expect to see us in court.”

The lawsuits state that the attorney general is "uniquely charged by Congress" with the enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which were designed by Congress to ensure the integrity of states' voter registration and voter list maintenance programs.

“Accurate voter rolls are essential to ensuring that American citizens’ votes count only once, and only with other eligible voters,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

However, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the state "tried to work cooperatively with DOJ to understand the basis for their request for our voters’ sensitive personal information," according to WTNH News-8. "Rather than communicating productively with us, they rushed to sue."

Tong said the state complies with federal law and "will vigorously defend the state against this meritless and deeply disappointing lawsuit,” according to WTNH News-8.

Sen. Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott) and Sen. Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield) issued a joint statement regarding the lawsuit.

“Good. Here in one-party Democrat rule Connecticut, the home of ‘Wanda from Bridgeport’, there is a refusal to enact election integrity safeguards."

Sampson and Harding are referring to Wanda Geter-Pataky, a former vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Party accused in an illegal absentee ballot case.

Related: 4 Bridgeport Campaign Workers Accused Of Election Fraud: CT Attorney

"Nearly a year ago, Republicans urged Attorney General Bondi to investigate Bridgeport’s election and voting apparatus to determine whether these fraudulent practices are being replicated elsewhere in Connecticut," Sampson and Harding's statement reads. "We appreciate any effort to restore public trust in our election system which has been severely undermined by the absurd scandals in Bridgeport."