WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Maryland’s top elections official, alleging he violated federal law by refusing to turn over a complete copy of the state’s computerized voter registration list, including voters’ dates of birth and identifying numbers.
In a complaint filed Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the Justice Department accuses Jared DeMarinis, the state administrator of elections, of violating Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 by declining to provide the records after a formal written demand from the attorney general. DeMarinis is sued only in his official capacity.
Federal prosecutors say the records request is part of an investigation into whether Maryland is complying with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which require states to maintain accurate voter rolls and a single, centralized voter registration database. Those records fall within the Civil Rights Act’s requirement that election officials retain and preserve voting-related documents and make them available to the attorney general upon request, the complaint says.
According to the filing, the Justice Department first wrote to DeMarinis on July 14, 2025, seeking information on Maryland’s voter list-maintenance practices and requesting a current electronic copy of the statewide voter registration list with “all fields.” DeMarinis responded that only publicly available data would be provided and directed federal officials to an online portal, the complaint states.
On Aug. 18, the attorney general sent a follow-up letter, this time invoking the Civil Rights Act and demanding an electronic copy of Maryland’s complete statewide voter registration list, including each registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address and either a driver’s license number, the last four digits of a Social Security number or a unique identifier assigned under federal law. The department said the information was needed to assess Maryland’s compliance with federal list-maintenance requirements.
The complaint says DeMarinis again refused on Aug. 25 to provide an unredacted copy of the database, citing state election laws and privacy concerns. Justice Department lawyers argue that federal law specifically authorizes the disclosure of the requested driver’s license and partial Social Security information to a government agency for enforcement purposes and that the Civil Rights Act gives the attorney general “sweeping” authority to obtain voting records.
The suit asks the court to declare that Maryland’s refusal violates the Civil Rights Act and to order DeMarinis to provide the Justice Department, within five days of any court order, with a current electronic copy of the statewide voter registration list containing all requested fields.
Read the full complaint below:
Dem state piece of CRAP
I will take the week of bill of rights day to ask 2 unanswered questions about the elections process that shouldn’t be unanswered. What offices have retirement attached to them + for how long? If you leave your job to take elected office, how long can you stay in elected office + have your job available to you? If you finish after 5 terms, can you go back to your job or do you have to start from scratch? These 2 questions have to be answered for some before they decide to be candidates.