A group of Secretaries of State sent a joint letter Tuesday to Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem objecting to federal requests for statewide voter data to comply with the Justice Department’s expanding push for nationwide election oversight.
The Secretaries criticized the Justice Department for requesting complete voter registration files, including dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. While the Justice Department has described these requests as necessary to ensure compliance with federal voter-list maintenance laws, the Secretaries portrayed the effort as intrusive and questioned how the data would be used.
In their letter, the Secretaries demanded answers on which agencies have accessed the data, what information has been shared, what legal authorities apply, how the data will be protected, and why election administrators were not informed earlier. They also pressed DHS to explain conflicting statements and clarify whether it still claims to have no use for voter data.
A response was requested by December 1. The letter was signed by the Secretaries of State of Arizona, Colorado, California, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington.
