PRESS RELEASE: Judge blocks Trump administration scheme to disenfranchise voters

Washington, D.C. – On the eve of election day, a district court judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately stop sending error-filled federal lists of supposed “likely noncitizen voters” to election administrators in states and localities anywhere in the country. This is a significant victory for the Latino and immigrant community and voters nation-wide—especially naturalized citizens—issued in response to a motion by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in a lawsuit brought by The League of Women Voters (LWV), LULAC, and EPIC. The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

In the days before the election, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been sending states and counties lists of people they allege are registered voters but “likely noncitizens,” in order to get these jurisdictions to investigate the voters, segregate their ballots, or refuse to tabulate their ballots until citizenship status can be determined. Under questioning from the court, the Trump administration’s lawyers admitted that the government has made mistakes, and that their lists have falsely flagged numerous U.S. citizens as non-citizens. The federal district judge recognized that DHS and DOJ are likely violating the Privacy Act and overstepping their legal authority, and that the agencies’ use of unreliable and illegally aggregated data is causing fear and confusion and preventing eligible voters from voting in the midterms. 

“No federal agency has any business using shadowy, privacy-invasive techniques to interfere with our elections and intimidate people exercising their fundamental right to vote,” said Alan Butler, Executive Director and President of EPIC. “EPIC thanks the court for its swift decision.”

“For decades, those in power have tried to scare Latinos away from the ballot box with purges, threats, and false claims of fraud. We are grateful that the court stopped the Trump administration’s latest attempt to purge and intimidate voters in its tracks,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC. “LULAC will always fight to protect the Latino community’s civil rights.”

“This is a major victory for voters and a powerful rebuke of the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to undermine our elections and interfere with Americans’ fundamental right to vote,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters. “The federal government has no business using flawed data, baseless accusations, and threats of prosecution to intimidate election officials and put eligible voters’ ballots at risk. Americans should never have to fear that their votes will be thrown out because their own government wrongly questions their citizenship. The court made clear that the Trump administration is not above the law. We will continue fighting to ensure that every eligible voter can cast their ballot, have it counted, and make their voice heard.”

“In America, voters decide the outcome of our elections, and this ruling is an important rebuke to the Trump-Vance administration’s ongoing attempt to determine who can exercise their right to vote and undermine our freedom and privacy,” said Louis Katz, a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward. “We are proud to represent our clients as we fight the government’s unrelenting push to disseminate sensitive information about thousands of people without any legal authority in service of their baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.”

“The Trump administration has repeatedly tried and failed to illegally intrude on the states’ authority to run our elections, and now, while midterm voting is actively underway, it is pushing states to refuse to count the ballots of voters who appear on highly unreliable federal lists of unknown origin,” said John Hill, Senior Litigation Counsel at CREW. “We applaud the court for recognizing the severity of the threat to eligible voters’ fundamental rights, and acting quickly to block the administration’s latest illegal scheme.”

Click here to read the opinion.

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ABOUT EPIC 

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) was established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age. Our mission is to secure the fundamental right to privacy in the digital age for all people through advocacy, research, and litigation.