ELECTION INTEGRIITYSome Republican States Resist DOJ Demand for Private Voter Data
The U.S. Department of Justice asked states for copies of their full voter lists, including sensitive personal data. Critics fear Trump would use the data to target political opponents or hype the v vanishingly rare cases of noncitizen voting. These critics include several Republican secretaries of state in Red states.
When the U.S. Department of Justice asked Kansas Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab to turn over a copy of his state’s full voter list, including sensitive personal data, he responded with gratitude for the Trump administration.
“We appreciate the efforts of DOJ and other federal partners to assist in ensuring states have access to federal resources” to maintain voter rolls, Schwab wrote in an Aug. 21 letter to the agency.
But Schwab did not provide the full data the Justice Department wanted. Instead, the second-term state secretary of state and candidate for governor wrote that he was “initially” giving its lawyers only publicly available voter information.
As the Trump administration demands that states turn over voter data, some Republican state officials are pushing back.
At least four states with Republican chief election officials have offered public data but not the sensitive information — driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers — sought by the Justice Department, even as they take pains not to pick a fight with President Donald Trump. Another has refused to turn over any data.
One state so far has given the federal government everything and another appears likely to follow.
On Friday, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, a Republican, confirmed he provided the Justice Department with all the requested data, making Indiana the first known state to hand over sensitive personal information. And in South Carolina, the state Supreme Court has cleared the way for election officials to share its data.
Many Democrats and even some Republicans fear Trump wants to use the voter data to build a federal database of voters he can use to target political opponents or hype rare instances of noncitizen voting. At the same time, supporters of the effort say the Justice Department is focused on maintaining accurate voter rolls.
For Republicans, the demands pit the traditional conservative belief in states’ authority — and their skepticism of federal power — against the will of a president who holds a vise-like grip over their party. They also come after Trump spent years advancing the false claim that he won the 2020 election.
