Washington, D.C. — Hôm nay, Common Cause, the nation’s leading good government organization, held a media briefing describing its multi-state legal response to unprecedented U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) demands for sensitive voter roll data. The Trump Administration’s requests raise urgent questions about data privacy, federal overreach, and the future of election administration ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

“The Trump Administration’s unprecedented demand for highly sensitive voter data is simply the latest tactic in a coordinated effort to undermine fair representation in our country,” nói Dan Vicuña, Common Cause’s Senior Policy Director for Voting and Fair Representation. “Their goal is simple: use your personal data to build an unauthorized national voter database extremely vulnerable to hackers and used to disenfranchise voters. It’s a blatant attack on our privacy and voting rights.” 

Common Cause has filed motions to intervene as a defendant in 13 states and sued in one additional state to challenge the DOJ’s demands for highly sensitive information, including voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. Courts have granted Common Cause’s motions to intervene in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, and a court hearing on the Nebraska case is scheduled for January 29. 

 “Voters 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, Common Cause’s Senior Director for Litigation. “We are committed to defending voters’ rights and privacy nationwide, and we’re stepping in to ensure those protections are upheld.”  

In Nebraska, Common Cause sued Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen to prevent him from sharing the nonpublic voter file with the DOJ. When Secretary of State Evnen subsequently threatened to release this information before a final decision had been reached in the lawsuit, Common Cause requested a temporary restraining order to prevent this data from being released.  

“If Secretary Evnen hands over this data, it would violate state law and put every Nebraska voter’s personal information at risk of hacking, scams, or misuse,” said Gavin Geis, Common Cause’s Nebraska Executive Director. “At its core, this is about more than just one state’s voter file. It’s about whether the federal government can trample state laws, seize personal data, and use it to take control of election administration away from the states.” 

Common Cause and its Georgia Executive Director, Rosario Palacios, filed a motion to intervene in in United States v. Raffensperger. 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. 

“I don’t want folks like myself to be subjected to false allegations about being ineligible to vote,” said Palacios. “We know how sensitive things are right now and how intimidating it can already be for naturalized citizens. We don’t want federal bureaucrats to make our elections even more divisive.” 

Nguyên nhân phổ biến filed a lawsuit in Nebraska to protect state voter data and has joined with the ACLU Voting Rights Project and local ACLU chapters to file motions to intervene as defendants in DOJ lawsuits against Arizona, Hawai’i , Colorado, Gruzia, Tiểu bang Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Và Tiểu bang Wisconsin to protect sensitive data in those states. 

These challenges come amid a volatile election environment as President Trump has recently escalated his dangerous rhetoric to undermine public confidence in elections, including floating the idea of canceling future U.S. elections and expressing regret for not seizing voting machines in the 2020 election. 

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