June, Alaska — Voting and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against Alaska election officials on Wednesday, alleging that sharing the state’s complete voter registration list with the U.S. Department of Justice violates the state constitution.
Alaska is one of at least 12 states that have provided or said they will provide detailed information about their voters — including date of birth, driver’s license number or partial Social Security number — to the Trump administration, according to the Brennan Center. Alaska and Texas also signed agreements when they exchanged statements in which the department outlined plans for its own analysis of voter files, its plans to report problems with voter rolls and directives to remove voters deemed ineligible.
Several other states submitted the data, but rejected those agreements, as part of a broad effort by the Department of Justice to do so Obtain detailed data about voters From every state. Some election officials They expressed their concern The Trump administration could use the requested information to search for potential noncitizens.
The Alaska lawsuit was filed in state court against state elections division officials by the League of Women Voters of Alaska and the Alaska Black Caucus. It alleges that handing over personal data on the voter list violates the right to privacy under the state constitution. It also says the MOU violates due process by allowing the Department of Justice to flag voters for removal “without any notice or clear process for affected voters to appeal those decisions.”
The lawsuit names as defendants Republican Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees the department, and Department Director Carol Beecher.
Sam Curtis, a spokesman for the state Department of Law, said via email that it would be premature to comment on specific allegations raised in the lawsuit. But Curtis said the department has previously made clear in public hearings that state law “explicitly allows the sharing of this information for authorized government purposes. That law is on the books, and we will defend it.”
“Alaska statutes have numerous provisions that allow nonpublic or confidential information to be shared with law enforcement,” Curtis said.
The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia to try to force the release of the data, according to a tally by the Brennan Center. The judges rejected those efforts ca, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon And recently, rhode island. Judge in Georgia A lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice was dismissed after ruling that it was filed in the wrong city. It was later repackaged.
In the Rhode Island case, Justice Department lawyers acknowledged that the department was seeking unredacted information about voters so it could be shared with the Department of Homeland Security to verify citizenship status.
In addition to the state court lawsuit in Alaska, at least four federal lawsuits have been filed across the United States seeking to prevent the Department of Justice from collecting information from unredacted voter registration files or to prevent states from taking steps to cancel or suspend voter registrations based on the federal project.
During an Alaska legislative hearing last month, Rachel Whitty, an attorney with the state Department of Law, told lawmakers that the state had a “compelling interest” to comply with the federal request.
“To ensure the integrity of the election, there was a shared interest in keeping voter lists accurate and up-to-date,” she said.
The Alaska lawsuit describes the process under state law for maintaining voter rolls, and states that there are only limited circumstances under which a voter’s registration can be immediately revoked — “upon death or conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.” She says that while election officials have said they will remove voters only “to the extent permitted by state and federal law,” that interpretation “cannot be reconciled with the plain language” of the agreement signed with the Department of Justice.
The plaintiffs are asking a judge to invalidate the agreement and require the Department of Elections to make “reasonable efforts” to ensure the immediate destruction by the Department of Justice of any paper and electronic copies of the list that were shared.
“Instead of vigorously defending the rights of Alaska voters, our elections department has joined in on federal overreach,” Eric Glatt, legal director for the ACLU of Alaska, said in a statement. “Now, we ask the court to intervene and ensure that the Department of Energy fulfills its constitutional and legal obligations to Alaskans.”
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Associated Press reporter John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed.