Judge Rules Oregon Doesn’t Have to Give Trump Administration Voters’ Private Information

A federal court ruled in favour of the State of Oregon and Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read against the Trump Administration yesterday, dismissing a lawsuit filed last September by the Justice Department as part of the federal government’s nationwide effort to obtain voters’ private information.

Oregon Voters’ Privacy Protected In Lawsuit

U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a tentative ruling from the bench yesterday, granting Oregon’s motion to dismiss the Trump Administration’s Justice Department lawsuit that sought to gain access to voters’ private, highly sensitive information, including full dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers, and complete driver’s license numbers.

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said that the federal government tried to abuse its power to force him to break his oath of office and hand over Oregonians’ private data. Oregon argued that federal voting laws, including the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act, do not require states to provide highly sensitive voter information to the federal government.

Secretary Read said, “I stood up to them and said no. Now, the court sided with us. This is a big win for Oregonians’ privacy and the rule of law.”

A written ruling is pending, but Oregon’s victory could have ramifications for voter privacy nationwide in similar lawsuits filed by the federal government against 21 other states and Washington, D.C.

West Coast States Fight Back Over Voter Suppression

The Trump administration’s aggressive push for state voter data has sparked widespread concerns about potential misuse for voter suppression or targeted purges. Oregon’s win on voter rights yesterday follows several actions by state politicians in both Oregon and California.

As critics warn that the Administration’s push could disenfranchise millions in key battleground states ahead of future elections, from neighbouring California, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif) and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in November.

They condemned the DOJ’s lawsuits against states for their refusal to surrender unrestricted access to their states’ sensitive voter information and registration lists, and for pressuring states to remove eligible voters from the rolls.

The senators criticized the federal government’s unlawful efforts to force states to surrender their voter registration lists to build an unauthorized national voter registry and the threat of voter purges to millions of eligible American voters.

The senators said they “stand with election officials who are ready to fight back against misuse of the data in calls for baseless purges or meritless challenges to election results.”