Troy

A group of civil rights and voter advocacy groups filed a lawsuit to block attempts by Rensselaer County Republican leaders to share voter registration information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Rensselaer County officials last week said the county Board of Elections planned to share voter information with ICE to see if anyone who registered to vote is in the U.S. illegally. The county is led by Republican officials; Democrats in the county legislature called the GOP's threats "political grandstanding" and said they were not informed of the action.

The decision by Republicans is a backlash to both the movement to make Troy a sanctuary city, and the Green Light law recently signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to let undocumented immigrants apply for driver licenses.

The state law, effective in December, also prevents ICE from accessing driver license application records and allows the Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner to not retain them after six months — but doesn't specifically bar county Boards of Elections from sharing information.

Four advocacy groups and a Rensselaer County resident joined to file the counter lawsuit, arguing that the county's plans will deter U.S. citizens from registering to vote, and will subject county residents to "an ICE investigation as the price of registering to vote at the DMV."

"Let's get the facts straight: non-citizens can not register to vote at the DMV or anywhere else in New York state," Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, said in a statement. "The County Executive's threat to turn over the voting rolls to ICE is designed to fearmonger against immigrants and needlessly alarm and confuse eligible potential voters."

The group's lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Republican opponents of the Green Light law have said the process to get new licenses could be used for voter fraud, although the law says eligible undocumented immigrants will be given standard licenses that would state "not for federal purposes."

But county Republicans defended the ICE checks as a deterrent to fraud, and have said the Green Light law forces them into a position of weighing federal law against New York law.

"We are a land of immigrants but not a land of illegal immigration and we must be ever vigilant in protecting our voting process," Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said last week.

Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, who oversees the county DMV, has told the Times Union he wouldn't give licenses to undocumented immigrants and this week filed a suit against the state over the law that he said conflicts with his duty to uphold federal immigration law.

On the other side, voter rights advocates contend that Rensselaer County Republicans are breaking the law by sharing voter information.

"The County's plan to share voter registration information with federal immigration authorities is a flagrant violation of federal law," said Cameron Kistler, counsel for Protect Democracy, a litigant in the case.

"It is also a transparent attempt to scare lawful voters — particularly those in the Latinx community — from registering to vote. Such lawless conduct has no place in our democracy, which depends on free and fair elections in which all citizens may participate without fear," Kistler said.

Erie County Clerk Michael P. Kearns also filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month challenging the Green Light law.

In June, Saratoga County Clerk Chris Hayner and more than 30 county clerks from around the state wrote President Donald Trump asking for the U.S. Department of Justice to review the law.

The state, however, is confident the law can withstand a federal court challenge.

"The Green Light law is well-crafted and the office of attorney general has concluded that it is constitutional. As the state's attorney and chief law enforcement officer, my office will vigorously defend it," state Attorney General Letitia James said.