The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) today urged a federal court to swiftly rule on the Trump administration’s plan to create and distribute “State Citizenship Lists,” arguing that the government cannot use its own delays in producing the lists as a reason for the court to wait. EPIC is represented in its lawsuit by Protect Democracy and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

The new filing comes in response to the government’s Sept. 10 argument that EPIC’s challenge is premature because the State Citizenship Lists “do not yet exist.” But the administration has not agreed to halt its program before the Nov. 3 midterms, even after missing its own deadline to distribute purported “citizen lists” 60 days before the election. Further delay only heightens the risk of confusion and disenfranchisement by leaving election officials less time to respond to inaccurate federal data.

On Sept. 1, 2026, EPIC sued the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and the State Department to challenge the agencies’ chaotic and illegal interference in the 2026 midterms. Acting on a March executive order from President Trump, the agencies plan to issue lists of so-called “confirmed” citizens to officials in every state for use in determining who can and cannot vote. DHS has admitted that these lists will contain widespread inaccuracies that could result in eligible voters being wrongly flagged or removed from state voter rolls mere weeks before Election Day. Regardless, the Trump administration is compelling election officials to use these “State Citizenship Lists” anyway, threatening them with investigation and prosecution if they “issue Federal ballots to individuals not eligible to vote.”     

“The states, not the federal government, are responsible for determining who is eligible to vote in federal elections. Yet again the Trump administration is defying this bedrock constitutional principle, and has doubled down on its illegal plan to create flawed lists of ‘confirmed’ citizens based on outdated and unreliable federal data,” said Nikhel Sus, chief counsel at CREW. “The administration can’t race toward implementing this haphazard plan before the midterms while simultaneously telling the court there’s nothing to see here. The government’s plan is illegal and ill-conceived, and we’re asking the court to stop it before it can inflict further damage.”  

“If this plan is allowed to go forward, it will threaten the integrity of our elections and the fundamental right to privacy that all Americans are guaranteed under the Constitution and under federal law,” said Alan Butler, executive director and president at EPIC, which is both counsel and plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Many of us are concerned about how frequently we can be tracked and surveilled in our daily lives, but the threats we face from online tracking are minor when compared to the program that the Trump administration is fighting to unlawfully roll out. If the President creates and controls these lists, and threatens state election officials with prosecutions if they disobey, then he would effectively control the outcome of our elections. In America, the voters pick their representatives, not the other way around.” 

“The Trump administration’s proposed solution to eliminating noncitizen voting is to make our elections less accurate and less secure,” said Orion Danjuma, counsel at Protect Democracy. “If you have a leak in your roof, you patch it. What you don’t do is tear the whole house down. Yet the government is barrelling forward with a system it knows could wrongly flag eligible American voters. At best, this plan is ill-suited to accomplish its stated purpose. At worst, it is a disingenuous attempt to smuggle in widespread voter disenfranchisement and destabilize our democracy. The courts must stop it.”

The judge will next determine whether to rule on the case or hold a hearing.

Read more about the lawsuit and download the case files on EPIC’s website, Protect Democracy’s website and CREW’s website.