Leftist election law activist David Becker, with the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, carried out a scheme depriving citizens of their privacy and voting rights, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court by a civil liberties watchdog.
The complaint charges that Becker is using the two left-leaning nonprofits he founded — the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and the Center for Election Innovation and Research to “infiltrate WisDOT’s Division of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) database to access the driving records containing the personal information of millions of Wisconsin residents and eligible American voters.” In doing so, the lawsuit alleges, Becker and ERIC “exploited” the nonprofit’s tax-exempt status in acquiring highly sensitive information for purposes strictly prohibited under the federal Driver’s Privacy and Protection Act (DPPA).
Stunningly, the complaint charges that the Wisconsin Elections Commission hasn’t had a contract with ERIC for more than eight years, further exacerbating the alleged illegal data collection. An Elections Commission official denies the charge, telling The Federalist the membership agreement with the state-run voter monitoring system remains in effect.
The lawsuit, brought by Citizen AG, a conservative civil liberties law firm, on behalf of La Crosse, Wisconsin, resident Jennifer McKinney, seeks declaratory relief, damages, and an injunction against ERIC, CEIR, Becker and the Department of Transportation from “obtaining, disclosing, and using personal information from driving records for voting or election-related purposes.”
Becker and the others “have knowingly engaged in and will continue to knowingly and intentionally engage in a coordinated effort to obtain,
