The Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU National Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of Georgia filed a motion to intervene in United States v. Raffensperger to stop the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) from obtaining Georgia voters’ sensitive personal data. The SPLC and co-counsel filed the motion on behalf of Common Cause, a nonpartisan grassroots voter engagement organization, and its executive director, Rosario Palacios.
In August 2025, the DOJ requested Georgia turn over voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — extremely sensitive data that is protected under state and federal law. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger rightly declined to share voters’ personal data.
When voters provide personal information to states as part of the registration process, they trust that their privacy will be respected and their right to participate in elections will be honored. The DOJ has not made clear how this data will be used and protected. Their secrecy breaks voters’ trust and risks mass disenfranchisement, particularly among vulnerable populations such as naturalized citizens like Palacios.
Common Cause previously filed a lawsuit in Nebraska to protect state voter data and has joined with the ACLU Voting Rights Project to file motions to intervene as defendants in DOJ lawsuits against Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island for declining to turn over their voters’ private data.
The Georgia motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Macon Division.
