At the Polls: What Will Election Night Look Like in a Global Pandemic?

The Trump administration's Department of Justice has taken Kentucky to court in an attempt to obtain sensitive, non-public information from the state's voter registration database — including Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, dates of birth, and home addresses. This lawsuit is one of nearly three dozen similar actions filed against states across the country, and reporting suggests the underlying goal is to construct an unauthorized federal voter database and use error-prone data-matching tools to target registered voters — including naturalized citizens — for potential removal from the rolls.

LOUISVILLE, KY – The League of Women Voters of Kentucky, the New Americans Initiative, and two individual Kentucky voters, represented by the ACLU of Kentucky and the ACLU Voting Rights Project, today filed a motion to intervene in U.S. v. Adams to prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from accessing the private data of Kentucky voters. “The Department of Justice’s demand for unredacted voter files has no legal basis and would put Kentuckians’ private data at risk,” said Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky. “This is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise certain voters and hoard sensitive data for partisan purposes. The ACLU of Kentucky will continue to fight for the privacy and voting rights of all Kentuckians.” The filing comes after the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Michael Adams (R) for refusing to turn over Kentucky’s statewide voter registration list. The DOJ in July demanded information — including voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers — that is protected under state and federal law. The government’s lawsuit is one of many against several states as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to build a national repository of voter information without congressional authorization or oversight. “NAI works every day to help eligible new Americans become informed and engaged voters, and that work depends on honesty and trust,” said Nima Kulkarni, Executive Director of the New Americans Initiative. “That’s why we are moving to intervene – to safeguard legal civic participation and voter privacy for the communities we serve.” “Kentuckians should be able to participate in our elections without worrying that their most sensitive personal information will be handed over or misused," said Jennifer Jackson, M.D., president of the League of Women Voters of Kentucky. "Voter data exists to administer elections, not to fuel political fishing expeditions or undermine confidence in the process. The League of Women Voters of Kentucky is stepping in to ensure voters’ privacy is respected and that people can continue to engage in our democracy without fear.” “The Department of Justice is seeking access to highly sensitive voter information that states are legally obligated to protect. Requests like this create serious privacy risks and open the door to intimidation and illegal challenges to eligible voters, said Caren Short, director of legal and research for the League of Women Voters. The League is proud to send the message to the federal government that wherever you try to harm voters, the League will be there to fight back.” “The Trump administration’s efforts to invasively access the sensitive data of voters is a serious threat to our democracy,” said Adriel I. Cepeda Derieux, deputy director for the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. “When voters fear their personal information could be misused to target or disadvantage them, it chills civic engagement. We will challenge this overreach again and again.” In the brief, the proposed intervenor-defendants argue that the DOJ’s request threatens voter privacy and could enable voter disenfranchisement. They seek to advance the interests of civic engagement groups, whose work is compromised when Kentucky residents have reason to distrust the registration process, and individual voters, including naturalized citizens, who risk being targeted by the federal government and whose private data is impacted by this litigation. The motion cites reports indicating that the DOJ intends to create an unauthorized and unlawful national voter database – that may be shared with other federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security – and to use this illicit tool, in conjunction with unreliable DOGE-inspired data-matching and aggregation techniques, to illegally target and challenge voters. This effort creates heightened risks for certain groups of voters, including naturalized citizens and voters with prior felony convictions, whose current eligibility might not be reflected in databases that have out-of-date information.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the State of New Jersey, seeking private, confidential voter data. DOJ’s efforts appear to be part of an effort to build a national voter database without congressional authorization and to improperly question the validity of state voter rolls.