WLKY: Jefferson County Joins Legal Fight Over Voter Data
March 17, 2026 — Jefferson County Clerk David Yates filed a motion to intervene in a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to release Kentucky's unredacted voter registration list.
WLKY obtained a series of letters that the DOJ sent to Kentucky election officials last summer, demanding voter information, including full names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers.
The State Board of Elections filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, in which they said they did provide a redacted list to the DOJ, but declined to send the requested sensitive personal data, as listed above.
The legal filing states, "the board expressed concern that disclosing such information would expose the personal data of millions of Kentuckians without a clear statutory basis."
In February, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against both Secretary of State Michael Adams and the State Board of Elections to release the voter data.
The DOJ is also suing 29 states and the District of Columbia over the same thing.
Now, Yates is stepping in to also prevent the release of this information.
He filed a motion to intervene and made the announcement alongside Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell, who filed the legal action in partnership with the Clerk's office.
"So the motion to intervene allows us to be at the table," said Sarah Martin, Second Assistant/Civil Division Director for the Jefferson County Attorney's Office. "Clerk Yates will be a party to the suit if the judge accepts our motion to intervene, and therefore will be able to submit pleadings, make arguments before the court, and protect the voters of Jefferson County."
Yates said he is the first county clerk to take action to block the transfer of unredacted voter rolls, also citing privacy concerns.
"I have the statutory duty to protect the confidential personal information entrusted to us by our voters," said Yates.
In a press release, the DOJ cited getting the information is to "maintain voter rolls," and in the lawsuit filed last month, they also state it's to "ascertain compliance with the list maintenance requirements of the NVRA (The National Voter Registration Act) and HAVA (The Help America Vote Act).
However, Yates believes it's something else.
"Centralized voter data raises legitimate concerns that it will be used to target lawful voters and purge communities for political advantage," he said.
"Donald Trump has no legal reason to demand the sensitive and personal information of the voters of Jefferson County," said Martin.
We reached out to the Secretary of State Michael Adams' office, and spokesperson Nick Storm provided a comment.
“The State Board of Elections has filed a motion to dismiss the case, and the Secretary of State’s Office will soon file a similar motion. Kentucky fully complies with federal law in maintaining its voter rolls, as acknowledged by the Department of Justice in court. We prefer a prompt resolution of this matter; if new parties continue to intervene, however, it will slow the process.”
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky, the New Americans Initiative, and two individual Kentucky voters, represented by the ACLU of Kentucky and the ACLU Voting Rights Project, also filed a motion to intervene.
According to the motion to dismiss from the State Board of Elections, as of February 2026, there are 3,354,665 Kentuckians on a list of qualified, registered voters.
Since 2019, the State Board of Elections has removed roughly 735,000 ineligible voter registrations from the voter rolls.
Jefferson County has 583,453 registered voters, which is the most in the state.
Indiana did hand over this information to the DOJ, according to legal filings.
We reached out to the Indiana Secretary of State's office.