A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to force California to turn over its voter information, saying disclosure would violate both federal and state privacy laws. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has yet to comment as civil rights groups see the ruling as a win.
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter issued the ruling on Thursday, saying the Justice Department’s move to force California’s Secretary of State to turn over unredacted registration lists would erode privacy and voting rights. He added that it isn’t up to the executive branch to act on voting issues, but the legislative.
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The Justice Department has lawsuits against 22 states and Washington, D.C. over refusals to turn over unredacted voter registration.
He said centralizing voter information would have a “chilling effect on voter registration” and would decrease voter turnout for fear that their information is being used inappropriately.
“This risk threatens the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy,” Carter wrote.
Theresa Lee, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, told Straight Arrow News that California is now in the clear to ignore the DOJ’s request. She added that the data would have exposed people’s full names, birth dates, identification numbers and other personal information, which could lead to identity theft.
“I think folks in California can, at least in the short term, breathe a little easier that their voter registration information isn’t going to be used against them in that way,” Lee said.
The ACLU and League of Women Voters of California intervened on the lawsuit filed against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Weber said in a statement that she’d “continue to challenge this administration’s disregard for the rule of law and our right to vote.”
Lawsuits pending against 22 states, DC
With California’s lawsuit dismissed, attention is now on 22 states and Washington, D.C. to see where courts in those areas will rule. Lee said that while U.S. District Courts have their own jurisdictions, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for all other judges to make similar dismissals.
The federal Election Assistance Commission says that most states have laws preventing the release of confidential information such as a Social Security Number, date of birth, ID numbers and other information. Voter registration lists are public documents, and have been used for jury selection or by political parties for campaign mailers.
No state or territory releases information on how a person voted in an election.
Bondi and DOJ Civil Rights Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in December the lawsuits were necessary to ensure elections were fair and free. They sued under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
“States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results,” Dhillon said.
Carter disagreed with that assertion, as he said the NVRA doesn’t give the Justice Department authority to demand such a list; the HAVA doesn’t have a disclosure provision; and the department’s request violated the Privacy, Driver’s Privacy Protection and the E-Government acts. He pointed to Congress passing the Privacy Act specifically to prevent the federal government from creating data repositories or a centralized system that houses American’s personal confidential information.
“The Court is concerned that the very issues that animated Congress to pass the Privacy Act — threats to American democracy amidst erosion of public trust regarding the Executive’s use of sensitive data — will play out again if the DOJ is given license to ignore the guardrails created by Congress in the Privacy Act,” Carter wrote.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, lawsuits are pending against:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- Nevada
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- Wisconsin
Judges have issued a number of rulings throughout those areas. In Oregon, the state is tentatively permitted to withhold unredacted voter information.
