Raffensperger Prevails in Federal Court, Protecting Georgia Voters' Private Information

Atlanta – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced a major legal victory protecting the sensitive personal information of Georgia voters after a federal judge dismissed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking an unredacted copy of Georgia’s statewide voter registration list.

“I will always protect the sensitive personal information of Georgians, in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” said Secretary Raffensperger. “I will not give in and break the law for anyone. Period.”

The Department of Justice sought an unredacted copy of Georgia’s statewide voter registration list, including information protected as confidential under Georgia law, such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and dates of birth.

Secretary Raffensperger maintained that Georgia could comply with federal election law while continuing to protect information that state law requires his office to keep confidential.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia agreed.

The Court found that Title III of the Civil Rights Act does not preempt Georgia’s voter privacy law and that the Secretary can comply with federal law while protecting voters’ confidential information. The Court further found that neither the National Voter Registration Act nor the Help America Vote Act requires disclosure of the sensitive information sought by the federal government. Additionally, the Court highlighted that Georgia’s list maintenance efforts demonstrated the Secretary’s compliance with federal election law."

The Court granted Secretary Raffensperger’s motion to dismiss, denied the federal government’s motion to compel production of the records, and ultimately dismissed the case.

“Georgia has worked with our federal partners and will continue to do so, but cooperation does not mean ignoring the law or surrendering the privacy rights of Georgia voters,” Raffensperger said. “We stood our ground because the law was clear, and we are thankful the Court agreed.”

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Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 17 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record turnout in 2020, and 2022. 2022 achieved the largest single day of in-person early voting turnout in Georgia midterm history utilizing Georgia’s secure, paper ballot voting system. Most recently, Georgia ranked #2 for Election Integrity by the Heritage Foundation, a top ranking for Voter Accessibility by the Center for Election Innovation & Research and tied for number one in Election Administration by the Bipartisan Policy Center.