EPIC Urges Ninth Circuit to Protect Voter Privacy and Refuse to Enforce DOJ’s Voter Roll Demand

EPIC filed amicus briefs on April 24 in United States v. Weber and United States v. Read urging the Ninth Circuit to rebuff the Department of Justice’s unlawful demand for California and Oregon’s voter rolls. We filed a brief just days before in a similar case out of  Michigan. EPIC was represented on the briefs by pro bono counsel from Wilmer Hale. 

Over the last year, the DOJ has baselessly demanded that states turn over their unredacted voter rolls as part of the administration’s wider efforts to suppress voting. The agency sued Oregon and California when they refused DOJ’s demands, declining to violate the trust and rights of their citizens. Like several courts before, the district court dismissed both of the DOJ’s case, and the Department appealed them to the Ninth Circuit. 

In the briefs, EPIC argues that the DOJ’s demands violate several federal privacy and data security laws, and as EPIC has noted before, the DOJ has failed to comply with even basic data security standards. In addition, these demands for state voter rolls are illegal orders to obtain records on how Americans exercise their First Amendment rights. The DOJ has also failed to comply with key transparency and oversight requirements despite already collecting voter roll data from several states. As the briefs explain, the DOJ’s actions violate the Privacy Act, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and the E-Government Act. 

 As DOJ continues its attack on states and voters, EPIC will keep fighting for our fundamental rights. Want to join us?