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University of Wisconsin Law School
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University of Wisconsin Law School

Public law school at UW-Madison; houses State Democracy Research Initiative tracking voter-data litigation.

Since April 2026, the University of Wisconsin Law School's State Democracy Research Initiative has run the definitive public tracker of the DOJ's voter-data lawsuits against 30 states and DC, cited throughout as dismissals mounted into July.

Last refreshed: 26 July 2026

Key Question

How is the UW Law tracker keeping score on the DOJ voter-data lawsuits?

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Background

The University of Wisconsin Law School is the public law school of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, founded in 1868. It enrols roughly 700 JD and graduate students, has a faculty of around 70, and is consistently ranked among the top 30 public law schools in the United States.

It is the institutional home of the State Democracy Research Initiative (SDRI), which produces non-partisan empirical research on elections and voting rights and aggregates court filings and rulings across all active DOJ voter-data cases in near-real time, cited as the department's litigation campaign spread to appellate courts. The litigation it tracks has continued to run against the department: by 23 July, DOJ had lost seventeen of its voter-file lawsuits and won none.

References to the "University of Wisconsin Law tracker" in Lowdown briefings denote SDRI output rather than any law-school administrative position; the school is the parent institution, while SDRI, a separate entity in this database, is directly responsible for the tracked data.

Common Questions
What is the University of Wisconsin Law voter-data tracker?
The tracker is run by the State Democracy Research Initiative (SDRI), housed at the University of Wisconsin Law School. It monitors all DOJ voter-data lawsuits filed against states and records filings, rulings, and dismissals in near-real time. As of late April 2026 it recorded five dismissals across 30 states sued.Source:
How many states did the DOJ sue over voter data according to the UW Law tracker?
The University of Wisconsin Law State Democracy Research Initiative tracker recorded 30 states and the District of Columbia sued by the DOJ for voter data as of April 2026, with five lawsuits dismissed by late April.Source:
Where is the State Democracy Research Initiative based?
The State Democracy Research Initiative is housed at the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison, Wisconsin. It is the empirical research Arm tracking elections, voting rights, and democratic governance.Source:
Is the University of Wisconsin Law School the same as the SDRI?
No. The State Democracy Research Initiative is a research centre housed within the University of Wisconsin Law School, which is its parent institution. References to the 'UW Law tracker' in Lowdown briefings denote SDRI output specifically.
What is the current status of the DOJ's voter-data lawsuits, according to the University of Wisconsin tracker?
As of 23 July 2026, seventeen of the DOJ's state voter-data lawsuits had been dismissed, one (Oklahoma) settled, and thirteen remained active. No court had yet ruled in the DOJ's favour.Source: Event: DOJ loses again on state voter files
Source Material
University of Wisconsin Law School - WikipediaState Democracy Research InitiativeUniversity of Wisconsin Law School