GEORGIA—Today, the ACLU National Voting Rights Project, the ACLU of Georgia, and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Common Cause and its Georgia Executive Director, Rosario Palacios, in United States v. Raffensperger to prevent the Department of Justice from obtaining Georgia voters’ personal data.

In August, the DOJ asked Georgia to turn over voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers — highly sensitive data that is protected under state and federal law. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger appropriately declined to share this sensitive data.

The filing highlights that when voters provide personal information to the State as part of the registration process, they trust that information will not be abused, their privacy will be respected, and their right to participate will be honored. Yet the DOJ’s secrecy surrounding how this data will be used and protected breaks that trust and risks mass disenfranchisement, particularly among vulnerable populations like naturalized citizens.

Rosario Palacios, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is also represented in the case. Palacios has an interest in this case because her status as a naturalized citizen may place her at a heightened risk of being targeted for voter disenfranchisement, a threat that extends to countless other Georgia voters.

“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington have no business accessing Georgia voter’s sensitive personal information,” said Rosario Palacios, Common Cause’s Georgia Executive Director. “Handing this data over to the federal government violates the law and would put voters’ private information in the hands of dangerous election conspiracy peddlers. Common Cause is fighting to protect the rights of Georgia voters and to prevent the potential misuse of their data.”

“Voters in Georgia and across the country deserve to know their personal information is secure and used only for its intended purpose of maintaining accurate records,” said Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, Senior Director of Litigation at Common Cause. “We are committed to defending voters’ rights and privacy in Georgia and nationwide, and this case is one of many where we are stepping in to ensure those protections are upheld.”

“Georgians have a fundamental right to vote without fearing that their most sensitive personal information will be exposed or misused, and the DOJ’s refusal to explain how this data will be used or protected is deeply concerning,” said William Hughes, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “We’re drawing a firm line in the sand: voters’ private information is not a political bargaining chip.”

“Protecting voter privacy is not a partisan issue–it is a matter of public trust, election security and democratic integrity,” said Bradley Heard, deputy legal director, SPLC. “Georgia voters share personal information with the clear expectation that it will only be used to facilitate elections in their own state. For that reason, Georgia’s secretary of state must continue to exercise caution and restraint, rejecting any requests from the federal government that unnecessarily place voter data at risk or remove it from the state. Safeguarding Georgia voters–and their personal information-from scrutiny is the SPLC’s top priority.”

“For generations, too many Georgians have had to fight to protect the right to vote,” said Akiva Freidlin, senior staff attorney, ACLU of Georgia. “And preserving that right includes safeguarding Georgia voters’ private data from government officials who may use it in invasive and unlawful ways.”

Common Cause previously filed a lawsuit in Nebraska to protect state voter data and joined with the ACLU Voting Rights Project to file motions to intervene as defendants in DOJ lawsuits against Colorado, New Mexico, Maryland, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota for failing to turn over their voters’ private data.

To read the full motion to intervene, click here. 

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