More Groups Seek to Join Vermont Voter Data Case Against DOJ
Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) requested that it be added as a defendant in a case where the DOJ ordered the state to turn over its voter data. The court document, filed Tuesday at U.S. District Court for Vermont, is another in a flurry of moves from groups and individuals asking to join their state’s legal battles (see 2512190063).
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VPIRG said it informs and mobilizes Vermonters and so should be added to Vermont’s case as it “represents thousands of members across" the state "whose personal information may be unlawfully shared with the federal government depending on the outcome of this litigation.”
The goal of DOJ in collecting this sensitive data is “to build a national voter registration database that can be weaponized to exert political control over elections.” But the federal government’s attempts to use the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) fall short.
VPIRG's document said the CRA doesn't allow "baseless sweeping demands for entire non-public voter registration lists,” without first proving the need for such data, which DOJ fails to do. Additionally, the NVRA and HAVA designate the states with maintaining voter registration lists, not the federal government.
The court document in case 2:25-cv-00903 noted that Vermont is one of 21 states, plus the District of Columbia, that DOJ is suing for failure to turn over voter data. California was sued in September (see 2512020022), and a group of six states were sued together at the start of December (see 2512030049).