The Pew Research Center estimates that some 20% of names on voter registration lists are inaccurate or mistaken or flawed. Some voters are dead, some have moved out of states.

Some will have moved out of state. Some will have registered at trailer courts or UPS postal service outlets, and other places that are ripe for abuse.

Blue-run states such as Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan are some of the worst offenders in refusing to clean up their rolls even though the Help America Vote Act requires states to maintain proper and effective voter registration and voter lists.

So this week, the Justice Department filed new federal lawsuits against four new states claiming they are blocking efforts to improve voter integrity.

Justice has sued Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada along with 14 other states for failure to produce statewide voter registration lists upon request.

“If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will,” says Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.

Democratic officials offer increasingly awkward “the dog ate my homework” excuses for not providing the data.

“The Justice Department is trying to get us to turn over the private, personal information of more than 8 million state residents,” claims Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

“I told them they can’t have it.”

Really? The data voters surrender to states isn’t much beyond name, address and their Social Security number. Michigan has done far worse with its data leaks, including a 2023 Michigan State University breach that affected thousands of students, staff, and others.

Any state that resists turning over basic data on its voter registration lists is either providing cover for potential voter fraud or is incompetent in keeping its records – or probably both.