Jose Luis Magana / AP

The Department of Justice is escalating its demands for sensitive elections data from voting officials, announcing lawsuits against two Democratic-controlled states who have thus far rebuffed the department's requests.

The DOJ is suing Oregon and Maine and those states' secretaries of state in an effort to gain access to each state's voter registration list, including personal information such as partial Social Security numbers.

The department has asked for sensitive voting data from numerous states; Oregon and Maine are the first to be sued.

"If the President wants to use the DOJ to go after his political opponents and undermine our elections, I look forward to seeing them in court," Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, a Democrat, said in a statement.

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