By Robert Gherke | The Salt Lake Tribune | Photo by Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sued Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and four other states for refusing to hand over entire voter registration databases — something the state’s lieutenant governor said she is legally prohibited from doing.

Last year, the Trump administration sued 24 states, most of them run by Democrats, plus Washington, D.C., but Thursday’s lawsuit demonstrates that the Justice Department also has its sights set on Republican states. To date, according to a tracker by the University of Wisconsin Law School, federal judges have dismissed the lawsuits in California, Georgia, Oregon and Michigan.

In addition to Utah, the Justice Department filed similar lawsuits in Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey.

The federal court in California ruled that voters should not have to choose between their constitutional right to privacy and their right to vote.

The administration contends it needs the nation’s complete voter list — which includes Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver license data and other private information — to verify states are adequately maintaining their voter registration records.

Read more at SLTrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.