Lawsuit Challenges DHS Voter Data Compilation as Privacy Act Violation Amid Broader Election Integrity Push

Three organizations—the League of Women Voters, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)—filed suit on October 15, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that its acquisition and use of voter registration data from at least 47 states violates the Privacy Act. The complaint claims DHS has compiled records covering the vast majority of the nation's approximately 174 million registered voters, combining them with commercial datasets for investigations into alleged voter fraud, including noncitizen voting. Plaintiffs argue this exceeds DHS's statutory authority, which centers on terrorism, border security, and specified threats rather than broad election administration, and infringes on First Amendment-protected voting activities without explicit statutory authorization. The suit seeks declaratory relief, an injunction, and deletion of the collected data. Government documents cited indicate DHS received millions of records via the Department of Justice and processed over 99 million entries by mid-2026. This filing joins a wave of related litigation, including DOJ lawsuits against dozens of states for voter rolls and challenges to the expanded SAVE system for citizenship verification. Multiple states have resisted data requests, and prior court rulings have dismissed many DOJ actions as lacking legal basis. The timing—weeks before the 2026 midterms—highlights tensions between federal efforts to address perceived vulnerabilities and concerns over privacy, data security, and potential disenfranchisement. Internal analyses mentioned in parallel proceedings have flagged thousands of potential noncitizen registrations in states like California, though outcomes remain subject to verification and legal scrutiny.