The Justice Department is suing Pennsylvania and five other states for not providing voter registration information.
Pennsylvania denied the Justice Department’s request to hand over voter registration last month because the information is already public, except for voters’ driver’s licenses and social security numbers.
The DOJ says the requests are part of a nationwide effort to monitor compliance with federal laws.
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure. States that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”
The lawsuit also claims the Civil Rights Act of 1960 puts that information at the Attorney General’s disposal.
“States are required to safeguard American elections by complying with our federal elections laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Clean voter rolls protect American citizens from voting fraud and abuse, and restore their confidence that their states’ elections are conducted properly, with integrity, and in compliance with the law.”
On Friday, leaders at the ACLU of Pennsylvania responded to the lawsuit:
“This level of data collection is unprecedented and poses a significant threat to the privacy of Pennsylvanians. Pennsylvania already gave the DOJ access to the voter rolls of nearly 8 million voters. What our commonwealth didn’t give—and shouldn’t give—is highly sensitive information that the DOJ doesn’t need, such as partial Social Security and driver’s license numbers. There is not only a troubling lack of reason, but also a lack of clarity regarding how this data may be shared, processed and stored. The ACLU-PA will stand with voters to protect their constitutional right to privacy against the federal government’s illegal fishing expedition for highly personal information.” - Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania
“We should all be deeply concerned for our democracy. This disturbing chain of events —from pressing for gerrymandered maps to attempting to eliminate mail-in voting, and now pushing for access to unredacted voter rolls — suggests a concerted effort by the Trump Administration to undermine the integrity of our elections and disenfranchise eligible voters. Our elections are safe and fair, President Trump should know, he won his presidency with this exact trusted system. His attempts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of our elections are illogical and appear to be part of a broader strategy to manipulate unfavorable outcomes, who can and can’t vote, and whose votes ultimately count, particularly in key battleground states like Pennsylvania. If what we suspect is the case, we’re prepared to defend the fundamental rights of all Pennsylvanians." - Mike Lee, executive director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania
The other states being sued are California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and New Hampshire.
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