DOJ's position on Rhode Island’s entire non-public voter file "an affront to the rule of law"
In a brief filed today in federal court, the American
Civil Liberties Union blasted the U.S. Department of Justice’s
(DOJ) position that it is entitled to Rhode Island’s entire non-public
voter file – including not only names and addresses, but full dates of birth
and driver’s license numbers and/or social security number information – by
calling the DOJ’s arguments “an affront to the rule of law, the role of the
judiciary, and the intelligence and rights of the American public.”
In December, the ACLU and ACLU of Rhode Island,
representing Common Cause and individual voters, intervened in this DOJ-filed
lawsuit that is demanding that Secretary of State Gregg Amore turn
over this sensitive, non-public information contained in the Rhode Island state
voter file.
The government has argued that the purpose of the demand for
these records is to “ascertain Rhode Island’s compliance with the [voter] list
maintenance requirements” of federal voting laws, but the ACLU brief states
that the DOJ has never explained exactly how access to this information – and
particularly access to the personal, non-public portions of the voter data –
would assist the agency in doing that. Instead, the ACLU brief argues:
Stunningly, the United States never once denies what
extensive public reporting and judicially noticeable documents make plain: that
its true purpose in seeking state voter files is to build an unprecedented
national voter file through novel, error-prone, DOGE-inspired forms
of data-matching and then to use this tool to identify ostensibly ineligible
voters and challenge their right to vote.
The ACLU brief further challenges as unlawful the government’s attempt to seek the unredacted voter file “with no provision for redactions or modifications to safeguard privacy rights and comply with relevant” federal privacy laws. The brief concludes by asking the court to dismiss the DOJ’s complaint.
The federal government’s request is part of a reported
effort to assemble a national voter database, which Congress has never
authorized and which could be used to disenfranchise legitimate voters. The
ACLU has previously noted that the federal government’s use of private voter
data would also make this sensitive information more vulnerable to hackers and
scammers. The court filing comes a day after President Trump was quoted as
calling on Republicans to “take over” and “nationalize” voting.
The individuals participating in the case include a
naturalized citizen and a person who recently moved from out of state and
re-registered to vote in Rhode Island. The federal government’s efforts,
particularly, threaten voters like these, as faulty data matching could be used
to disenfranchise them unlawfully.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have requested
permission to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of the state and
the ACLU’s position.
The ACLU’s latest filing and additional documents in the
case can be found here.
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