Voter Group Requests to Join Wash. State DOJ Voter Data Case
Voter mobilization group Common Power requested Wednesday that a court allow it to join Washington as the state battles DOJ's challenge of its refusal to submit sensitive voter data to the federal government.
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Washington is one of several states DOJ is attempting to compel to submit voter registration lists. DOJ sued California first, in September (see 2512010046). Washington’s case (3:25-cv-06078) was one of six suits filed on Dec. 2 (see 2512030049).
Common Power seeks to “preserve the privacy rights of its constituents … prevent disclosure of sensitive personal information to DOJ and protect its own mission-critical efforts to empower communities worried about retaliation and scrutiny by the federal government,” the court document said.
Additionally, the group argued that Washington state law prevents voter information -- outside of a small subset -- to be shared publicly. The federal government winning this case “would run roughshod over this and other privacy protections.”
Several groups have asked to be added to the state lawsuits as defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Rhode Island (see 2512090055) as well as a retiree group, a union and two individuals (see 2512110005) asked to be included in their state’s case. In the California case, U.S. v. Shirley Weber, a coalition of 16 Democratic attorneys general has asked permission to file an amicus brief supporting the state.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) also claimed DOJ’s efforts in the cases may violate the Privacy Act (see 2512030049).