Today, Common Cause and four individual voters filed a motion for partial summary judgment in their federal lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from attempting to compile voters’ personal data and take over elections from the states. With just months before the midterm elections and primaries already underway, the plaintiffs are asking the court to block the Department of Justice (DOJ) from unlawfully creating a national voter database for surveilling voters and revoking voter registrations. 

There is no doubt that the DOJ’s actions are as illegal as they are dangerous. The law is clear that the DOJ does not have the authority to amass voters’ sensitive data and purge them from their state voter lists. Simultaneously, the DOJ is violating numerous federal laws meant to protect voters’ privacy and ensure government transparency. The plaintiffs argue that the court can and should move quickly to stop the DOJ’s ongoing unlawful attempts to destabilize the democratic process and trample on fundamental rights.

The motion emphasizes that voters deserve to know immediately that their personal information is protected, their registrations are secure, and the federal government will not attempt to interfere with the administration of free and fair elections this November. The lawsuit seeks to stop the Trump administration’s efforts to create widespread confusion among eligible voters — or worse, prevent them from voting altogether.

“I’ve been a U.S. citizen for over a decade and a voter for nearly as long,” said Anthony Nel, a plaintiff from Texas who was removed from voter rolls 30 days after the SAVE system flagged him as a potential noncitizen. “I found out my voter registration was canceled because the government is using a system it knows doesn’t work correctly for people like me. The DOJ should not be building a national database out of our most sensitive, personal information when it can’t even get this right.”

“The idea that the federal government is compiling a database to surveil me is un-American,” said Plaintiff Haley Smith from Texas. “It feels like the Trump administration is using election disinformation as an excuse to expand surveillance of its own citizens, and I want no part of it.”

“My vote is my voice and my power as an American,” said Plaintiff Ruth Nasrullah from Texas. “I shouldn’t have to worry about this administration trying to label me an illegal voter for any reason — whether because they’re making mistakes with our data, or making judgments about my name, where my family is from, or how they think I might vote.”

“This administration has used chaos and uncertainty as political weapons before, and they’re trying to do it again here,” said Virginia Kase Solomón, Common Cause President and CEO. “With elections underway, voters need to know their data is safe. We need an immediate ruling to ensure data privacy concerns don’t keep people away from the polls.”

“The Trump administration’s illegal scheme to take over states’ constitutional roles and federalize election administration threatens millions of Americans’ privacy and voting rights,” said Nikhel Sus, Chief Counsel at CREW. “The facts and the law are clear, and there’s no time to waste. The court must act to protect voters’ rights ahead of looming midterm elections.”

“The DOJ has no legal authority to amass confidential voter data, and its efforts to do so invades the privacy of millions of Americans,” said Ming Cheung, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “At a moment when voters need clear, accurate information about upcoming elections and the security of their data, the DOJ’s secretive actions are creating confusion and disrupting critical efforts to educate voters. The court must halt this unlawful and unprecedented overreach.” 

“The Constitution gives states the authority to administer elections, and Congress has passed laws to protect voters against exactly this kind of abuse of power,” said Sara Chimene-Weiss, Counsel with Protect Democracy’s Free & Fair Elections program. “Here, this administration has brazenly ignored all of these legal guardrails. We’re moving for partial summary judgment because the legal violations are plain and the ongoing harm is serious: the government is invading voters’ privacy and putting their sacred right to vote at risk, all while baselessly casting doubt on our elections, which are secure.”

“With some primary elections already underway, it is critical that the courts protect voters and stop the Trump administration from abusing its power,” said Laura Follansbee, staff attorney at ACLU-D.C. “Our democracy depends on it.”

“The Constitution and federal law are clear: the President has no power to take over election administration from the states,” said Larry Schwartztol, Professor of Practice and Faculty Director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Clinic at Harvard Law School. “We’re seeking partial summary judgment because the law is clear, and the court has everything it needs to rule in our clients’ favor.”

On April 21, the group — represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-D.C.), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Democracy and Rule of Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, and Protect Democracy — sued the DOJ over its demands that states hand over confidential voter information, including home addresses, partial social security numbers, and past voting history. 

In 2025, the DOJ demanded that states provide their unredacted voter rolls. The agency plans to compare state voter lists with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) notoriously inaccurate Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system in an effort to identify suspected noncitizens on state voter rolls. As the lawsuit explains, however, the SAVE system has often mistakenly flagged lawful citizens as ineligible to vote. Nevertheless, the DOJ is claiming authority to demand that states remove any flagged voters within 45 days of informing states.

At least eighteen states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming) have voluntarily complied with the DOJ’s demands for their unredacted state voter rolls, putting their voters’ data at risk of misuse and security breaches. 

Since 2025, the DOJ has sued 30 states to force them to turn over their non-public voter files. Common Cause has taken action in 16 of these states plus D.C., and judges in six states — Arizona, Michigan, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island — have dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuits, holding that the DOJ cannot collect this confidential voter data.