ALCU, Rhode Island Chapter Intervene in DOJ Suit Demanding State Voter Data
The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Rhode Island on Tuesday submitted a motion to intervene in DOJ's challenge against the state for failing to submit sensitive voter data to the federal government. The organizations sought to add themselves as defendants in the case.
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Case 1:25-cv-00639, filed in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, is one of six lawsuits DOJ filed Dec. 2 demanding states turn over voter registration lists to the federal government (see 2512030049). A suit was also filed against California in September (docket 2:25-cv-09149).
“It has been widely reported that” the U.S. will use the “voters’ sensitive personal information and data ... to build an unauthorized national voter database and to target voters for potential challenges and disenfranchisement,” the ACLU court document said.
ACLU is representing grassroots voter engagement organization Common Cause, which has “an extremely strong interest in preventing the United States’ requests for unfettered and total access to the most sensitive aspects of Rhode Island’s non-public voter data." It also “has a protectable interest at stake because [it's] core mission as an organization will be harmed if the relief sought is granted,” and the states are compelled to turn over the data, the document added.
A coalition of 16 Democratic attorneys general, including five of the states additionally sued at the beginning of December, have asked permission to file an amicus brief in support of California in a similar case, U.S. v. Shirley Weber (see 2512010046).
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has said the DOJ’s efforts potentially violate the Privacy Act of 1974 (see 2512030049).