Nebraska Sued To Block Release of Sensitive Voter Data to DOJ

Nebraska is facing a new lawsuit aimed at stopping state officials from handing over sensitive voter data to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The lawsuit, filed by pro-voting group Common Cause and a voter Monday, seeks to prevent Secretary of State Robert Evnen (R) from complying with federal demands for Nebraska’s entire voter database. Earlier this month, the DOJ ordered the state to turn over the records — including every voter’s full name, date of birth, address, driver’s license and Social Security numbers — by Sept. 22. 

The plaintiffs argue fulfilling the request is illegal under Nebraska law and warns of irreversible harm if the state complies. 

“Nebraska law prevents Secretary Evnen from acquiescing to the federal government’s demands,” the complaint reads. “Under current law, local and state election officials are prohibited from disclosing a voter’s birth date, driver’s license information, or social security number.”

Even Nebraska’s own top election official, Evnen, acknowledged how unusual the request is, according to the plaintiffs.

“Secretary Evnen has acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the DOJ’s demand, stating that he is unaware of any prior request seeking this ‘level of detail,’” the complaint adds. “But Secretary Evnen has not definitively rejected the federal government’s request as required by Nebraska law. In fact, he acknowledged that he ‘wants to cooperate with the Department of Justice.’”

The DOJ, for its part, has continually cited three federal laws — the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 — as justification for its demand. But the plaintiffs pushed back sharply, stating that “the statutory authorities DOJ invokes do not extend to the sweeping demand it has issued to Nebraska.”

As Democracy Docket reported Friday, several voting law experts agree the DOJ’s demands for full statewide voter rolls don’t have much legal basis. 

Justin Levitt, a constitutional law scholar and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Civil Rights division, called the demand for voter rolls a “staggering assertion of federal intervention,” which “comes with no citation to any specific statutory provision, and is not supported by any that I’m aware of (nor any historical DOJ practice, nor any judicial precedent).” 

Nebraska is the latest state pulled into the DOJ’s crusade for private voter data. The department has already sued officials in Oregon and Maine for refusing to hand over the data. Those states cited concerns over federal overreach and voter privacy. 

In South Carolina, a voter won a temporary court order earlier this month blocking state officials from releasing the same type of information. 

The Nebraska plaintiffs are asking the court for emergency orders to stop the state from turning over the list.