The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit regarding its efforts to collect and analyze sensitive voter data from across the United States. The complaint was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and alleges that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has obtained voter files from at least 47 states, handling the data in a manner that violates federal law.
According to the lawsuit, DHS's investigation into the voter data, which includes a policy to combine it with commercial datasets, disregards federal safeguards and the privacy rights of millions of Americans. The case has been brought forth by the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, marking another legal challenge to President Donald Trump's initiatives aimed at addressing noncitizen voting.
President Trump has consistently claimed that noncitizen voting poses a significant threat to election integrity, despite studies and prosecutions indicating that documented instances of noncitizens casting ballots are rare. The administration has sought to increase federal involvement in voter eligibility and election administration, areas that are primarily managed by states according to the Constitution and federal law. Federal courts have previously rejected the administration's attempts to compel states to provide voter information.
The lawsuit asserts that the administration has acquired and processed voter records from at least 47 states, despite officials in 30 states having previously declined federal requests for voter information. The complaint requests that the court declare the administration's collection of voter data illegal, block DHS's policy, and mandate the agency to delete and cease using the voter information it has already collected.
This lawsuit comes less than three weeks before Election Day, as the administration continues to pressure states, alleging they are not adequately removing noncitizens from their voter rolls. Additionally, the administration filed a lawsuit against California election officials on Thursday, claiming they did not act swiftly enough to review names identified by the federal government as "likely" noncitizens. The Justice Department has requested a judge to prevent the state from counting mail-in ballots from these individuals unless their eligibility is confirmed. The California Secretary of State's office stated it was given only 48 hours to review approximately 20,000 names and noted that the federal government had not provided the necessary evidence or methodology supporting its claims. However, the Justice Department's lawsuit contends that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted a thorough review and determined with "high confidence" that around 20,000 individuals on California's voter rolls were likely noncitizens. DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.