States Seek Answers on JD Voter Data   11/19 06:15

   

   PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Ten Democratic secretaries of state asked the Trump 
administration Tuesday to provide more information about its wide-ranging 
efforts to seek statewide voter registration lists, citing concerns that 
federal agencies have apparently misled them and might be entering the data in 
a program used to verify U.S. citizenship.

   In a letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security 
Secretary Kristi Noem, the secretaries of state expressed "immense concern" 
over reports that the Justice Department has shared voter data from states with 
the Department of Homeland Security.

   "Given the unprecedented nature and scope of the DOJ's requests, we require 
additional information about how this information will be used, shared, and 
secured," they wrote.

   In response to a request for comment, the Justice Department shared a 
previous statement from Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights 
Division. "Clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for 
free, fair, and transparent elections," she stated. "The DOJ Civil Rights 
Division has a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, and 
ensuring the voting public's confidence in the integrity of our elections is a 
top priority of this administration."

   The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an 
emailed request for comment.

   The Republican administration's request for detailed voter data this year 
has become a major point of contention with Democratic states, with the 2026 
midterm elections on the horizon. The Justice Department has asked at least 26 
states, including some led by Republicans, for the data in recent months and 
has sued eight for the information. At the same time, voting rights groups have 
sued the administration, arguing that recent updates to a federal tool for 
verifying citizenship could result in voters being unlawfully purged from voter 
lists.

   Some states have sent redacted versions of their voter lists that are 
available to the public or declined the requests for voter data, citing their 
own state laws or the Justice Department's failure to fulfill federal Privacy 
Act obligations. But the Justice Department has on multiple occasions expressly 
demanded copies that contain personally identifiable information, including 
voter names, birth dates, addresses and driver's license numbers or partial 
Social Security numbers.

   Even some GOP-controlled states, such as South Carolina, have grappled with 
the request amid negotiations with the administration over how to fulfill the 
demand to turn over such records.

   In their letter, the 10 election officials said federal officials "shared 
misleading and at times contradictory information" in two recent meetings 
arranged by the National Association of Secretaries of State.

   During an August meeting, a Justice Department official said the agency 
intended to use the voter information to make sure states were maintaining 
their voter lists in compliance with two federal voting laws.

   But the following month, according to the letter, the Department of Homeland 
Security said it had received voter data and would enter it into a federal 
program used to verify citizenship status. That was despite a Homeland Security 
official telling secretaries of state during a September meeting that the 
department had not received voter data or requested it, the letter said.

   The SAVE program, or Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, is run 
by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of 
Homeland Security. It has been around for decades and been used widely by local 
and state officials to check the citizenship status of people applying for 
public benefits by running them through a variety of federal databases.

   DHS and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency updated the SAVE 
program earlier this year, according to public announcements. They made it free 
for election officials, allowed agencies to search voters by the thousands 
instead of one at a time and began permitting queries using names, birthdays 
and Social Security numbers, as opposed to requiring DHS-issued identification 
numbers.

   The letter from the Democratic secretaries of state asks for the 
administration to answer several questions, including whether the Justice 
Department has shared or intends to share voter files with the Department of 
Homeland Security or other federal agencies and, if so, how those other 
agencies would use the data.

   "DHS told Secretaries of State that they would not use -- or have use for -- 
voter information. Does DHS continue to stand by this assertion given public 
reporting and statements that appear to contradict those statements?" the 
letter asks.

   Other questions focused on the confidentiality and security measures being 
taken to protect the data, and how federal agencies are complying with privacy 
laws.

   The letter was sent by the secretaries of state from Arizona, California, 
Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. 
They have asked the Trump administration to provide responses by Dec. 1.