The Trump Justice Department wants Utah’s full voter list, including birthdates, addresses and driver’s license or parts of social security numbers. The NAACP is trying to stop it, warning that handing over sensitive data will chill voter registration and put already targeted communities at risk.
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In February, the DOJ sued Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson to force access to Utah’s full voter file, including birthdates, addresses, and other details on every registered voter. The NAACP and the NAACP Tri‑State Conference of Utah, Idaho, and Nevada moved to intervene, arguing the request endangers their members and the voters they serve.
The groups say they have hundreds of members in Utah, including immigrants and first-generation citizens, who are already wary of this administration’s intentions. Letting DOJ scoop up sensitive information heightens the risk of misuse and makes people less willing to register to vote.
The Tri-State Conference says it runs voter registration and get-out-the-vote operations where they tell people that the personal information held by state and local election officials is protected by Utah law. If DOJ gets the data, they say they’ll have to spend time and money rebuilding shattered trust.
"The constitution was designed so that the President of the United States has no authority over free and fair elections and that voters can decide who represents them, free from intimidation and suppression. If presidents were allowed to control our elections, they would not be called presidents—they would be called kings,” the NAACP said in a press release.
Currently, Utah has three classifications for voter records. Most are public, but voters can request that their information be marked “private,” shielding details from the public with a few exceptions (mostly political parties and candidates). A third classification, “withheld,” is used to protect at-risk people—think domestic violence survivors.
That framework is set to change later this year after lawmakers passed SB153. Most of the current registrations that are marked “private” will be flipped to “public” by default, and only voters who qualify as “at-risk” can keep that information withheld.
Last year, the DOJ asked for the complete statewide voter list as part of a probe into Utah’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson offered the public version, but refused to hand over “private” and “withheld” records.
In the lawsuit, DOJ claims the Civil Rights Act of 1960 requires election officials to reserve voter registration and federal election records for 22 months. They argue election officials are required to turn those records over upon a written demand from the Attorney General.
On Friday, Henderson moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the DOJ is trying to use a vague, older law to claim broad new powers. She says the 1960 act doesn’t authorize disclosure of birth dates, social security digits, or driver’s license numbers because Congress never said it did when the law passed.
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