DOJ hits Rhode Island with lawsuit over voter list data
By Nancy Lavin and Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
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| Trump want personal data from every source |
The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island Tuesday morning, comes amid a nationwide federal probe into state voter rolls under the pretense of preventing election fraud, including noncitizen voting — which is extremely rare.
Since May, the Justice Department has reached out to at least 40 states seeking voter lists, including personal information typically protected under state and federal laws, like Social Security and driver’s license numbers.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore refused to comply, responding to the DOJ probe in September by offering to provide a free copy of the statewide voter list already publicly available — typically provided upon request with a $25 fee. But Amore made clear he would not hand over confidential personal information without legal action.
More than two-and-a-half months later, the DOJ answered. The 10-page complaint echoes the same arguments made in its lawsuits against eight other states, including Maine and New Hampshire.
In all of the cases, federal attorneys say the government is entitled to personal voter data under the 1960 Civil Rights Act, the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993.
The lawsuit, which names Amore as a defendant, seeks a federal judge’s intervention to force Amore to turn over the voter registration information within five days, while declaring his refusal a violation of the Civil Rights Act.
Amore, a former high school history teacher, maintained the DOJ’s request was unconstitutional in a statement Tuesday.
“This lawsuit, like those filed in other states, is a continuation of the current presidential administration’s unconstitutional attempts to interfere with elections processes across the country,” Amore said. “One of my most important responsibilities as the chief state election official is safeguarding the data privacy of Rhode Islanders, who entrust us with their personal information when they register to vote. I will continue to fight to protect it.”
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said he will stand with and defend the secretary in court.
“This lawsuit is just the latest example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice to further the Trump Administration’s unlawful whims,” Neonha said in a statement. “I’m not surprised that this Administration is confused about what it means to behave lawfully.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island backed up Amore, calling the federal probe “a major threat to the privacy of Rhode Island voters.”
“Drivers’ licenses and social security numbers provided as part of the voter registration process are sensitive pieces of information that deserve to be protected and that the Department of Justice has absolutely no legitimate need for,” the ACLU said in a statement Tuesday.
Most state election officials, like Amore, have declined to provide the DOJ with full access to their voter rolls. In Nebraska and South Carolina, voters have filed state lawsuits preventing state election officials from sharing their private information. On the other end of the spectrum, Indiana and Wyoming agreed to hand over driver’s license and Social Security numbers in compliance with the DOJ’s request, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Officials in Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio have also agreed to help the Trump administration tap into state driver’s license data under a settlement between the states and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security filed on Friday.
The DOJ claims that state and local election officials have no discretion to limit federal election records or papers. Rhode Island’s rejection of the voter data request undermines the DOJ’s ability to investigate states under the 1960 Civil Rights Act, the lawsuit claims.
DOJ attorneys also sought to dispel Amore’s concerns over voters’ privacy. The administration’s memo claims that the assistant attorney general who requested the data from Amore’s office made clear that officials would comply with federal privacy laws. Moreover, the DOJ noted that Amore’s office was instructed to use encrypted email or the DOJ’s secure file-sharing system to provide the voter data.
The DOJ may claim it has the right to privileged voter data, but Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion said Tuesday that the 1974 Privacy Act lays out strict guidelines for what exactly states can provide to the federal government. He said Amore’s decision to deny the full voter roll was the right decision.
“He’ll ultimately prevail in this litigation, because the law is on his side,” Marion said.
Marion called the demands by the DOJ a “fishing expedition” by the Trump administration to continue to sow distrust in elections, along with pushing the false claim that the 2020 race was “stolen.”
“Rhode Island shouldn’t be participating in an effort to discredit those election results,” he said.
The DOJ’s lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Mary S. McElroy, a first-term Trump appointee.
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Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
