United States v. Matthews

As part of a widespread campaign to exert federal control over state electoral processes, and under the guise of attempting to uncover non-existent voter fraud, the Trump Department of Justice has sought to collect highly sensitive voter data from states across the country, data that is protected under state and federal law. The data includes voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and even partial Social Security numbers.

The Illinois Board of Elections refused to turn over this sensitive data about every voter in our state and provided redacted information instead, citing privacy protections under state and federal law. Consistent with its action in other states, the Trump DOJ sued the Board of Elections seeking access to the data.

We represent Common Cause, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and three individual Illinois voters – Pablo Mendoza, Brian Beals, and Alejandra Ibañez – seeking to intervene to prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from obtaining Illinois voters’ personal data from the nonpublic voter file.

We are joined in the legal action by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

The filing highlights the threat faced by Illinois voters, and particularly those most likely to be targeted for disenfranchisement (such as naturalized citizens and formerly incarcerated people whose voting rights were restored) when the federal government seizes data in support of its bogus campaign against “voter fraud.”