The League of Women Voters of Kentucky, the New Americans Initiative, and two Kentucky voters represented by the ACLU of Kentucky, have all filed the paperwork to intervene in the DOJ's lawsuit seeking to force Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams to hand over the information.
League of Women Voters head Jennifer Jackson said her organization is stepping in to ensure "voters' privacy is respected and that people can continue to engage in our democracy without fear."
Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, called the DOJ's suit a “blatant attempt to disenfranchise certain voters and hoard sensitive data for partisan purposes."
Kentucky is one of more than half the states in the country facing Justice Department lawsuits over voter registration data. Sec. Adams has resisted demands to hand over the documents, saying it would amount to voluntarily committing a data breach.
Gov. Andy Beshear has also vowed to fight the attempts by the DOJ to obtain voter information, such as Social Security and driver's license numbers.
The Trump administration argues Attorney General Pam Bondi is uniquely charged by Congress with broad authority to request election records under the Civil Rights Act of 1960. She said in a statement the data is necessary to ensure "transparency, voter roll maintenance, and secure elections across the country."