Common Cause and some individual voters have today intervened in a recently filed lawsuit in order to prevent the U.S. Department of Justice from obtaining sensitive, non-public information contained in the Rhode Island state voter file. The organization and voters, represented by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Rhode Island, seek to stop the federal government’s overreach and potential misuse of voters’ sensitive data.
The Department of Justice has requested Rhode Island’s entire non-public voter file, which includes not only names and addresses, but full dates of birth and driver’s license numbers and/or social security number information. State officials offered to provide the data that is available to the public, but the Department of Justice sued the State for all of its voter data.
The motion to intervene argues that the federal government does not have a proper purpose under the law for requesting this data. The individuals participating in the ACLU’s motion include a recently naturalized citizen and a person who recently moved from out of state and re-registered to vote in Rhode Island. Voters like these are particularly threatened by the federal government’s efforts, as faulty data matching could easily be used to wrongfully disenfranchise them.
“This dangerous directive puts our sensitive information at risk simply so the Trump Administration can spread election lies,” said John Marion, Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director. “Handing this data over to the federal government violates the law. Common Cause is fighting to keep Rhode Islanders safe from senseless data fraud and abuse.”
“Privacy is essential — especially as related to a right as fundamental as voting. The Department of Justice has no need for voters’ personal information,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of RI. “This is why we’re intervening in this case: To protect the rights of Rhode Island voters, and to prevent the potential misuse of Rhode Islanders’ data.”
“Voters in Rhode Island and across the country deserve to know that their personal information is secure, protected, and used only for its intended purpose of maintaining accurate voter registration records,” said Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, Senior Director of Litigation at Common Cause. “We are committed to defending voters’ rights and privacy in Rhode Island and nationwide, and this case is one of many where we are stepping in to ensure those protections are upheld.”
“Rhode Islanders deserve to have their sensitive personal information protected – not abused by federal authorities,” said Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “This voter data could be misused to justify large-scale voter purges based on faulty database matching techniques cooked up by election deniers. Federal overreach of this kind threatens voters’ privacy and their fundamental right to participate in our democracy.”
You can view the filing here.