Voting Rights Groups Ask Court to Reject DOJ’s Unlawful Demand for Full Access to Utah Voter Rolls

Voting rights groups should be allowed to intervene as defendants in Louisiana's suit against the U.S. Election Assistance Commission through which the state seeks to require additional proof of citizenship, argued the League of Women Voters of Louisiana and others in a motion to intervene in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

ANCHORAGE – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska, with Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the ACLU Voting Rights Project, filed a lawsuit challenging the Alaska Division of Elections’ (DOE) unconstitutional actions when it shared Alaska’s unredacted Voter Registration List with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in December 2025. The plaintiffs represented in the suit are the League of Women Voters of Alaska and the Alaska Black Caucus. In May 2025, the DOJ issued demands for full, unredacted voter rolls from almost every state and the District of Columbia in a reported effort to create an unauthorized national voter database. The State of Alaska complied with this effort, agreed to share constitutionally protected information with the DOJ, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) where the state also agreed to promptly “clean” its voter list at the DOJ’s later instruction. Alaska was in the minority when it complied with this demand; twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia refused to share the sensitive information contained in their voter registration lists. The State of Alaska agreed to share confidential information, including the full name, date of birth, residential address, state driver’s license number, or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number. Revealing this information puts Alaskans’ identities and voting records at risk. The suit contends that the disclosure of sensitive voter information to the DOJ violates Alaskans’ right to privacy and that the actions agreed to in the MOU conflict with voter list maintenance requirements under Alaska law, risking the unlawful disenfranchisement of Alaska voters. Theresa J. Lee, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project: “Alaskans have a right to participate in our democracy without fear that their most sensitive personal information will be exposed or misused. By handing over unredacted voter data and participating in a federal power grab that could trigger improper voter roll purges, the state has put both privacy and democracy at serious risk. Elections depends on trust in our systems, and that trust is undermined when the government treats voters’ personal information as expendable.” Marianne Mills, co-president for the League of Women Voters of Alaska: "Protecting voters' confidential information is a non-partisan issue. Alaskan voters must be able to trust that the agency tasked with administering our statewide elections is doing everything in its power to protect Alaskans' privacy and lawful right to vote." Doyle Williams, board chairman of the Alaska Black Caucus: "The Alaska Black Caucus is deeply concerned that the actions of the Alaska Division of Elections undermine the very core of our democracy by risking the disenfranchisement of voters. Sharing unredacted voter registration data not only invades the privacy of Alaskans but also threatens to silence the voices of those who have fought tirelessly for their right to vote. We stand united in this lawsuit to protect the rights of all Alaskan voters and to ensure that their personal information remains secure.” Eric Glatt, legal director for the ACLU of Alaska: “The right to vote and our right to privacy are two core values held dear by Alaskans. Rather than fiercely defending the rights of Alaska’s voters, our Division of Elections acceded to federal overreach. Now, we are asking the court to step in and ensure that DOE upholds its constitutional and legal obligations to Alaskans.” John Davisson, deputy director and director of Enforcement for Electronic Privacy Information Center: "Voters rightly expect public officials at all levels of government to safeguard their privacy. When Washington fails at that task, states must hold the line. We're proud to help Alaskans hold the Division of Elections accountable and fight to protect our democracy." In the filing, the plaintiffs are seeking a court order for the DOJ to destroy its copies of the Alaska voter registration list that were shared, to void the MOU, and prevent the transmission of any further unredacted voter roll information to the DOJ.

ATLANTA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia today announced the launch of a joint campaign with the national ACLU to engage Georgia voters ahead of the state Supreme Court election on May 19. The organizations are nonpartisan and do not support or oppose candidates for office. The ACLU is spending $750,000 on radio advertisements and direct-to-voter mailers during the final weeks of the campaign. These advertisements and mailers will focus on educating voters about where candidates stand on key civil liberties and civil rights issues, including abortion rights and voting rights. “On May 19, the citizens of Georgia have an opportunity to elect three justices of the Georgia Supreme Court. The Georgia Supreme Court has the power to defend the rights of the people. This could not be more important when the FBI is confiscating ballots; Homeland Security is violating due process and other important civil rights and civil liberties are at risk.” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia. “The people have a real choice. In the final weeks of this campaign, we’re educating voters on where these judicial candidates stand on basic issues like the people’s right to vote and the right to make private, personal decisions about when, whether and with whom to have a family.” Georgia Supreme Court justices hold six-year terms and interpret the state constitution and state laws, serving as the often-final defense against attacks on our rights and liberties. And the court often recognizes more expansive protections than those provided by the U.S. Constitution.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Common Cause and four individual members sued the Trump Administration to block the Department of Justice (DOJ) from illegally stockpiling millions of Americans’ confidential voter data and creating a national voter database to surveil and purge voters. The complaint argues that the DOJ’s actions are unconstitutional, illegal, and a key component of the Trump Administration’s attempts to take over elections from states and subvert the 2026 midterms. For the first time in American history, the DOJ has demanded confidential voter information from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and is compiling that information into a single record system. At least twelve states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming, have voluntarily complied with the DOJ’s data demands, putting their voters’ data at risk of security breaches and misuse. In their complaint, the plaintiffs explain that the DOJ’s endgame in collecting this data is to conduct its own state-by-state voter list maintenance operation and compel states to purge eligible voters from their voter rolls. The plaintiffs are represented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Protect Democracy, the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-D.C.), and the Democracy and Rule of Law Clinic at Harvard Law School. “This is a blatant, partisan power grab designed to cast doubt on the validity of our elections and whose vote should be counted,” said Virginia Kase Solomón, Common Cause President and CEO. “By attempting to interrogate and exploit voter data for political purposes, President Trump’s DOJ isn’t just threatening the privacy of every American—they are building a system designed to imprison the ballot box and silence millions of eligible voters. We won’t stand by while Americans’ rights to privacy and voting are under attack.” In their complaint, the plaintiffs argue the DOJ’s actions: Usurp state authority to oversee election administration and voter list maintenance as outlined in the Constitution and federal statutes; Could prevent eligible voters from voting due to DOJ’s plans to run the data it collects through its flawed and inaccurate Systematic Alien Verification Entitlements (SAVE) database; and Ignore critical safeguards mandated by federal law designed to protect the public before the government collects the very type of sensitive information that DOJ is demanding states turn over. “The Department of Justice is entrusted with protecting the fundamental right to vote — not exploiting its position to get its hands on sensitive voter data without justification,” said Ming Cheung, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “We are filing this lawsuit because these actions cross a dangerous line, threatening both the privacy of millions of Americans and public trust in our elections. No administration is above the law.” “This effort to consolidate millions of Americans’ confidential voter data in a master federal database is part of a larger illegal scheme to take over states’ constitutional roles and federalize election administration,” said Nikhel Sus, Chief Counsel at CREW. “The states’ responsibility for maintaining their voter rolls is enshrined in the Constitution and federal law, and we look forward to stopping this egregious overreach in court.” “Collecting, consolidating, and misusing highly sensitive personal voter data is part of the Trump administration’s strategy to usurp control of elections in order to baselessly cast doubt on and ultimately overturn any unfavorable election results," said Sara Chimene-Weiss, counsel for Protect Democracy. “The Constitution and federal laws place strict limits on the federal government’s role in our elections and ability to surveil Americans through consolidation of their personal data, and this administration cannot ignore these guardrails.” “The courts need to step in to stop this unprecedented power grab, to protect the freedom of our democratic elections, and to safeguard the privacy of voters across the country,” said Laura Follansbee, staff attorney at ACLU-D.C. “The Constitution is very clear that no president has the power to nationalize election administration, including maintenance of the voter rolls,” said Larry Schwartztol, Professor of Practice and faculty director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Clinic at Harvard Law School. “Any attempt by a President to seize control of that function violates federal law.” Since 2025, the DOJ has sued 30 states to force them to turn over their non-public voter files. The ACLU has taken action in 25 of these states plus D.C., and judges in five states — Michigan, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island — have dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuits, ending the DOJ’s attempts to take hold of the data. View the complaint here.