The Department of Justice is suing six states for not providing all the voter registration information they'e requested, an escalation of the Trump administration's effort to inspect voter rolls that has made voting rights advocates and election administrators alike bristle.

The department announced six separate lawsuits against California, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania — all Democratic-led or swing states — on Sept. 25. The department previously announced lawsuits against Maine and Oregon on Sept. 16.

“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a news release. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure — states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”

The civil lawsuits, filed in federal district courts in each state, allege that the states are violating federal civil rights laws and national voter registration laws. The lawsuits ask the courts to declare that the states are violating the law and force the states to release the requested voter registration lists, with additional information.

The department has requested copies of voter rolls, often with non-public information like partial Social Security numbers, from dozens of states. The effort follows Trump's March executive order that alleged that previous administrations didn't do enough to keep noncitizens off the voter rolls and said having accurate voter rolls protects voters.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a statement Sept. 25 saying the department is trying to get her to "turn over the private, personal information of more than 8 million state residents. That includes people’s driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personally identifiable information. I told them they can’t have it."

"Other secretaries of state – both Democrats and Republicans – have also asked them these questions," Benson said. "They refuse to give us a straight answer. We gave the Justice Department exactly what they are legally entitled to – the public version of Michigan’s voter file."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration sues Michigan, Pennsylvania, other states over voter rolls

Reporting by Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect