Civil rights and voting rights organizations have sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop its “secretive and unlawful effort” to gather and use sensitive voter information to help sabotage next month’s midterm elections.
“DHS claims that it needs this information to identify voter fraud. But DHS has no authority to stockpile voter data for a nationwide election-law dragnet, and in carrying out this policy it has disregarded federal safeguards and violated the privacy rights of millions of Americans,” the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and League of United Latin American Citizens charged in the action filed Oct. 15 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Plaintiffs in the complaint are represented by Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“DHS has no authority to stockpile voter data for a nationwide election-law dragnet.”
DHS is utilizing a “Data Collection Policy” to collect, maintain and use personal information and voter records to address what it claims are instances of noncitizen voter registration and voting. It also launched an “Unlawful Voter Initiative” that uses federal agents to identify and investigate voters it claims are illegally registered.
The lawsuit describes the policy as among the latest Trump administration ploys to undermine midterm elections, in this case by wrongfully obtaining information from statewide voter registration lists. “Agents are instructed to check this voter information against other federal databases listing citizenship and immigration information to identify possible instances of voter fraud.”
The data collected from at least 47 states includes “highly sensitive” information such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers, race, sex, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, voting history and political-party affiliation. The program has generated false positives that have subjected U.S. citizens to unnecessary investigations and enforcement actions.
The lawsuit requests the court stop DHS from committing federal overreach with its nationwide surveillance efforts in order to restore the voting and privacy rights of U.S. citizens. “DHS has placed the data of nearly every American voter within the scope of its investigation,” the suit charges.
Celina Stewart
Plaintiffs and their attorneys condemned the administration for its alleged campaign of voter intimidation and election interference.
“The federal government has no business secretly collecting the sensitive personal information of millions of American voters and feeding it into immigration enforcement systems under the guise of election security,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters.
Alan Butler
“DHS is sweeping up our most sensitive data by any means necessary to fuel its anti-immigration agenda and chase down nonexistent voter fraud,” said Alan Butler, president of the Electronic Privacy Information System. “As part of this agenda, the agency is greatly overstepping its authority, violating federal privacy law and trampling on our privacy, fundamental rights, and democratic values.”
The lawsuit comes on the heels of Democracy Forward’s recent receipt of federal documents showing how DHS and its investigators have received millions of records for use in attempting to silence eligible voters.
The filing is part of numerous lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s various attempts to interfere with the midterm elections, including creation of a federal database to track citizen activities, threats to send armed agents to polling places on Election Day and vowing to investigate state and local elections officials who do not cooperate with the federal government.
And Trump’s opponents have won many of those court challenges. The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against 30 states demanding access to unredacted voter rolls, but federal judges in 26 of those states have dismissed DOJ’s demands. While the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for creation of a controversial database to spy on voters, a separate federal law forbids the purging of voter rolls within three months of an election.
“Americans should not have to surrender their privacy simply because they exercise their right to vote,” Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said. “It is concerning to see voter registration records become part of a massive government surveillance operation, sweeping up sensitive information about millions of people without any legal authority or the safeguards Congress requires.”
In addition to its demand DHS cease using voter data, the lawsuit requests the court to force the agency to delete the data it has unlawfully collected.
“The Trump administration continues to abuse Americans’ personal information in ways that endanger our fundamental rights. There is no legal justification for this unacceptable overreach, and we will use every legal tool to prevent it.” said Nikhel Sus, chief counsel with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.