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Court judge's gavel resting on an election ballot.

Voting rights groups seek to join lawsuit to block DOJ from sensitive Utah voter data

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Katie McKellar
(Utah News Dispatch)

The League of Women Voters of Utah is seeking to intervene in the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Utah, which has asked a judge to force the state’s top election official to hand over full voter registration lists, including sensitive private data.

The League of Women Voters of Utah is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and the ACLU Voting Rights Project. The groups filed a motion to intervene in the case on Friday, looking to block President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice from obtaining Utah voters’ personal data.

“This lawsuit threatens to expose sensitive voter information that Utahns provided in good faith to participate in our elections,” Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, said in a prepared statement. “Voter data should be used to administer elections, not to fuel federal overreach that seeks to undermine trust by usurping Utah’s credible system.”

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Map of the state of Utah, showing portions of surrounding states.
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The League of Women Voters of Utah, Biele said, “is stepping in to protect voters’ privacy and ensure every Utahn can engage in our democracy without fear.”

In the motion to intervene, the League and the ACLU argued that the Department of Justice’s request threatens voter privacy and could result in the wrongful removal of eligible voters from voter rolls — as well as chill civic engagement.

“Utah’s election system is safe, secure, and efficient,” Jason Groth, legal director for the ACLU of Utah, said in a prepared statement. “The federal government does not run elections. There is no lawful or legitimate reason to hand over sensitive voter information to federal agencies with no role in administering our elections.”

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court last month, the U.S. Department of Justice accused Henderson of violating the Civil Rights Act by refusing to “provide the demanded federal election records.”

It asks the federal court to force Henderson to “produce to the Attorney General the current electronic copy of Utah’s computerized statewide voter registration list, with all fields,” including each voter’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and either their state driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number within five days of a court order.

At the time, the Trump administration also sued four other states — Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey — “for failure to produce their full voter registration lists upon request.”

The department last year also sent letters to states asking for voter registration data, prompting concern among some Democrats and voting rights activists about how the department, under Trump, plans to use the data.

In a court filing earlier this month Henderson asked the federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that federal law does not require states to turn over sensitive private data. She has also argued that neither state nor federal law “entitles the Department of Justice to collect private information on law-abiding American citizens.”

“Utahns can be assured that my office will always follow the Constitution and the law, protect voters’ rights and administer free and fair elections,” Henderson said in a statement last month.