Federal officials obtaining and compiling data on voters as part of an effort to combat voter fraud is illegal, three organizations said in an Oct. 15 lawsuit.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) compilation of the data from nearly every state violates the Privacy Act, which only lets agencies maintain information that is relevant and necessary for authorized purposes, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the League of United Latin American Citizens said in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.
“Congress created DHS to prevent terrorism, secure the border, and address other specified threats—not to conduct a voter-fraud dragnet centered on the private voting information of millions of Americans and records reflecting the exercise of constitutional rights essential to democracy,” the plaintiffs said….