Common Cause filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice against Hawaii that demands it hand over its non-public voter file.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
By law, states, not the federal government, have the authority to maintain their voter files, which contain sensitive information including full names, addresses, dates of birth, driver's license and partial Social Security numbers. However, the Trump administration has been on a quest to collect these databases to assemble their own master voter file, a move that threatens the integrity of our elections and risks disenfranchising many Americans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Most of these states, including Hawaii, have resisted pressure from the DOJ to hand over voter data. The Hawaii Attorney General's office said in a statement that they will \"vigorously defend privacy rights of Hawaii's voters and our lawful election practices against the federal administration's continued, nationwide overreach.\"<\/p>\r\n
Now, they're among the several states being sued for the voter file by the Trump administration. In response, Common Cause has gotten involved in several of these lawsuits, including filing an amicus brief in Hawaii.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ultimately, the State of Hawaii, Common Cause, and its partners are seeking the dismissal of this lawsuit, which would reject the Trump administrations attempt to collect this sensitive data.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Trump has repeatedly signaled his willingness to undermine our democracy to stay in power. Whether continuing to spread disproven conspiracies about the 2020 election or calling on Republicans to \"nationalize the voting,\" he has shown time and again that winning is more important to him than a fair and free democracy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Demanding state voter files is another attempt to undermine states' statutory power to manage elections, and the disenfranchisement that the Trump administration could carry out with a master national voter file is deeply concerning.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A list like this could be used to conduct strategic and widespread purges of eligible voters from voter rolls, including purges that are targeted based on factors like location, age, and gender in an effort to gain a partisan advantage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
And given the Department of Homeland Security's cruel attacks on immigrants and communities of color, regardless of their citizenship status, a potential federal database like this poses even greater risk \u2013 already, the DOJ has acknowledged that it is sharing voter information with DHS. Knowing that the federal government has collected a database of sensitive information could intimidate potential voters from these communities and prevent them from registering to vote.<\/p>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_accordion","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_accordion":{"heading":"F.A.Q.","panels":[{"panel_heading":"What is an amicus brief and why did Common Cause file one in the DOJ's lawsuit against Hawaii?","panel_copy":"An amicus brief \u2014 short for \"amicus curiae\" or \"friend of the court\" \u2014 is a legal filing submitted by an organization that is not a direct party to a lawsuit but has a strong interest in its outcome. Common Cause filed an amicus brief in the DOJ's lawsuit against Hawaii to provide the court with additional legal arguments and context in support of Hawaii's refusal to hand over its non-public voter file to the Trump administration."},{"panel_heading":"What sensitive information is in Hawaii's voter file, and why is the Trump administration demanding it?","panel_copy":"Hawaii's voter file contains highly sensitive personal data, including full names, home addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. Under existing law, states \u2014 not the federal government \u2014 have the authority to maintain and protect this data. The Trump administration is seeking to collect voter files from multiple states to build a national master voter file, a move Hawaii's Attorney General has called an unlawful \"nationwide overreach.\""},{"panel_heading":"Is the DOJ sharing the voter data it collects with the Department of Homeland Security?","panel_copy":"Yes \u2014 the DOJ has already acknowledged sharing voter information with DHS. For Hawaii's immigrant communities and communities of color, this raises serious concerns that a federal voter database could intimidate eligible voters from registering or participating in elections out of fear that their personal information could be accessed by immigration enforcement agencies."}]}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_take_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_take_action":{"heading":"Take Action","button_text":"","manually_curate":false,"action":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_banner","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_banner":{"use_donate_banner":true,"title":"Title [highlight]with highlighting[\/highlight] and additional text.","button":null,"image":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_related_articles","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_related_articles":{"heading":"Updates","button_text":"See all Related Articles","manually_curate":false,"articles":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_resources","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_resources":{"heading":"Related Resources","button_text":"See all Related Resources","manually_curate":false,"resource":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_press","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_press":{"heading":"Press","button_text":"","manually_curate":false,"press":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_events","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_events":{"heading":"Events"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_our_experts","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_our_experts":{"heading":"","manually_curate":false,"people":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\n