Voting rights group argue Trump’s voter data overhaul is illegal

CyberScoop reports that the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the League of Women Voters, and five individual plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in D.C. District Court, seeking to immediately stop the Trump administration from expanding the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system into a massive voter and citizenship tracking system.

The federal database was originally meant to check immigration status for federal benefits. The groups are seeking an emergency injunction to stop what they call the "illegal and secretive consolidation of millions of Americans' sensitive personal data across government agencies into centralized data systems."

According to the groups, the effort violates the Privacy Act of 1974, which restricts data-sharing between agencies without public disclosure or congressional notice.

"This administration's attempt to manipulate federal data systems to unlawfully target its own citizens and purge voters is one of the most serious threats to free and fair elections in decades," said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters.

The plaintiffs also allege that there is "at least one other interagency data system" acting as a centralized "data lake" to pool immigrant-related information from across government systems.