'I have the right to vote.' States and the DOJ are fighting over personal data

Source: USA Today

April 27, 2026, 3:01 a.m. ET


Anthony Nel was surprised when his voter registration was revoked in Texas after he cast an early ballot for the November 2025 election.

The Denton County resident was born in South Africa in 1996 and became a citizen in 2013 when his parents were naturalized. But he got a letter from the county registrar, who had checked the names on local voter lists against a Department of Homeland Security database that said “you were not a United States citizen.”

Nel was able to prove his citizenship and reclaim his voter registration by providing his passport in December. But he joined a lawsuit the advocacy group Common Cause filed against the Trump administration because of concern federal authorities would unfairly revoke the voting rights of others. “Seeing that right being taken away from people who are supposed to have it is incredibly frustrating and aggravating,” Nel told USA TODAY. “I have the right to vote and they attempted to take that away from me.”

Dozens of legal battles are being waged nationwide over federal access to personal information about voters, as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to weed out immigrants who are in the country illegally, while civil rights advocates fight for privacy. By determining who gets dropped from voter registration lists, the results of the cases will help determine who casts ballots in November midterm elections that will decide who leads the narrowly divided Congress.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/27/justice-department-states-battle-voter-registration-lists/89693395007/