LINCOLN — A lawsuit is underway in Lancaster County District Court challenging Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s plan to turn over detailed voter registration data to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Common Cause Nebraska, a public-advocacy nonprofit, argues that the federal request — which seeks sensitive information including names, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — violates state privacy laws, and has asked the court for an injunction to stop the release scheduled for Feb. 12. The state has responded by asking the judge to dismiss the case, and no ruling on the injunction was made at the hearing as the judge took the arguments under advisement.

Attorneys for both sides debated whether federal authorities must comply with Nebraska law to access the records and whether the federal government should be joined as a necessary party in the case. The DOJ has made similar data requests to numerous other states as part of efforts to verify voter registration rolls, and some states have resisted on privacy grounds. Meanwhile, the dispute has drawn broader political attention and concerns about data privacy, with critics questioning the safety of consolidating detailed voter information at the federal level.

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