Baltimore, Md. – Democracy Forward sued the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) today, asking a court to compel the Trump-Vance administration to produce public records it is withholding related to disclosures by government attorneys of multiple inaccuracies and misrepresentations made to federal courts – including that a member of the so called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered into a “Voter Data Agreement” and may have shared data with a non-government source – in a case challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s access to Americans’ personal Social Security data. This case comes as the Trump-Vance administration is under fire for its attempts to undermine free and fair elections throughout the country, seizing ballots and attempting to purge voter rolls, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“The Trump-Vance administration continues to hide what it is doing with Americans’ personal data, who it has unlawfully shared it with, and why. The stewardship over the personal data of people in America is one of the most important obligations of our government – and they are failing,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The revelations of misconduct by the Trump-Vance administration regarding our private information and the integrity of our election system are outrageous. We will not stop until we know exactly how far this unlawful assault on our privacy, and potential threats to free and fair elections, go.”
Today’s filing investigates information revealed in separate litigation brought by Democracy Forward on behalf of a coalition of unions and retiree advocates, including the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA). That lawsuit — AFSCME v. SSA — was filed in February 2025 and sought to stop DOGE operatives from unlawfully accessing personally identifying information maintained in SSA systems of record. According to declarations in the case, DOGE personnel entered SSA systems without appropriate legal authority, bypassed key data safeguards, and placed the private information of millions of Americans – including bank account numbers, health records, wage histories, and immigration status – at risk of exposure, theft, or abuse.
On January 16, 2026, the government filed a “Notice of Corrections to the Record” in the case, which disclosed a number of inaccuracies in information the government had previously provided to the court. The filing cites examples that include acknowledgment by Department of Justice attorneys that individuals’ personal data was being shared using a non-government server, and that a DOGE team member at the SSA entered into a “Voter Data Agreement” after being asked by someone outside the government to analyze state voter rolls.
In Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed on January 22 and on January 27, Democracy Forward sought a copy of the “Voter Data Agreement” and who it was signed by, widely suspected to be True the Vote, an election denying group; the two Hatch Act referrals sent by SSA to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel regarding the staff that had communicated with the group; and communications between SSA DOGE staff and election-denying organizations. The requests also sought records to better understand the unauthorized use of Cloudflare, which was outside of SSA security protocols, by DOGE affiliated staff. These requests seek records that are particularly urgent to uncover any improper sharing of protected data for apparently political purposes in advance of coming elections. None of the requests were fulfilled in the time required by law, prompting today’s lawsuit.
Today’s complaint can be found here.
– # # # –
Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
