ATLANTA — Several civil rights groups are seeking to intervene in a Justice Department lawsuit against Georgia’s secretary of state, raising concerns about voter privacy and access to sensitive personal information.
The lawsuit centers on the Justice Department’s request for detailed voter records from the state. Georgia is accused of refusing to turn over information that includes voters’ names, addresses, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Common Cause, saying it wants to prevent the release of that data. Deputy Legal Director Bradley Heard says the request raises serious concerns for everyday voters.
“But more important than that, I think the concern to everyday voters is that it just has an intimidating effect,” Heard said.
Heard, who says he previously worked for the Justice Department, calls the request for such personal information highly unusual. He says protecting voter privacy is not a partisan issue, but a matter of public trust.
“If the administration is trying to compile some super list of voters, to what end, for what purpose?” Heard said.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is pushing back against the lawsuit, saying the state has the cleanest voter rolls in the country. He says Georgia verifies citizenship, uses Social Security data to remove deceased voters, and shares information with other states to remove voters who have moved.
Raffensperger also says the state has already shared its voter roll maintenance practices and public voter roll data with the Justice Department earlier this month, but will not release sensitive personal information such as birth dates and driver’s license numbers.
The Justice Department has filed similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions, including Illinois, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
WSB Radio’s Jennifer Perry contributed to this story.