In a brief filed today in federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union blasted the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) position that it is entitled to Rhode Island’s entire non-public voter file – including not only names and addresses, but full dates of birth and driver’s license numbers and/or social security number information – by calling the DOJ’s arguments “an affront to the rule of law, the role of the judiciary, and the intelligence and rights of the American public.”
In December, the ACLU and ACLU of Rhode Island, representing Common Cause and individual voters, intervened in this DOJ-filed lawsuit that is demanding that Secretary of State Gregg Amore turn over this sensitive, non-public information contained in the Rhode Island state voter file.
The government has argued that the purpose of the demand for these records is to “ascertain Rhode Island’s compliance with the [voter] list maintenance requirements” of federal voting laws, but the ACLU brief states that the DOJ has never explained exactly how access to this information – and particularly access to the personal, non-public portions of the voter data – would assist the agency in doing that. Instead, the ACLU brief argues:
"Stunningly, the United States never once denies what extensive public reporting and judicially noticeable documents make plain: that its true purpose in seeking state voter files is to build an unprecedented national voter file through novel, error-prone, DOGE-inspired forms of data-matching and then to use this tool to identify ostensibly ineligible voters and challenge their right to vote."
The ACLU brief further challenges as unlawful the government’s attempt to seek the unredacted voter file “with no provision for redactions or modifications to safeguard privacy rights and comply with relevant” federal privacy laws. The brief concludes by asking the court to dismiss the DOJ’s complaint.
The request from the federal government is part of a reported effort to assemble a national voter database, which Congress has never authorized, and which could be used to try to disenfranchise legitimate voters. The ACLU has previously noted that the federal government’s use of private voter data would also make this sensitive information more vulnerable to hackers and scammers. The court filing comes a day after President Trump was quoted as calling on Republicans to “take over” and “nationalize” voting.
The individuals participating in the case include a 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.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have requested permission to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of the state and the ACLU’s position.
The ACLU’s latest filing and additional documents in the case can be found here