Washington election officials raise concern over federal request for voter data

The Trump administration has requested information about Washington voters, including names, dates of birth, addresses and either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number as part of a probe into “ineligible voter entities.”

According to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, some of the information sought by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is considered protected information under state law .

The request, sent Monday with a deadline of Sept. 22, is part of the White House’s increased efforts to crack down on electoral systems throughout the country.

In a statement Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said, “Enforcing the Nation’s elections laws is a priority in this administration and in the Civil Rights Division.”

“The recent request by the Civil Rights Division for state voter rolls is pursuant to that statutory authority, and the responsive data is being screened for ineligible voter entries,” the statement said.

In the letter to state officials, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, wrote on Monday that “to the extent there are privacy concerns, the voter registration list is subject to federal privacy protections.”

Still, a collection of current and former state officials expressed concern about what the administration could do with the requested information sought from 22 states.

Hobbs said as the state’s chief election official, “it is my responsibility to ensure the election process is safe, secure and transparent.

“This includes protecting Washingtonians’ voter information and privacy,” Hobbs said. “I will work with all stakeholders to ensure we maintain both.”

Hobbs said he won’t submit the data until the Department of Justice tells his office what they intend to do with the information.

“My office will respond to the DOJ once I’ve had the opportunity to fully assess that information while working with stakeholders, and ensuring our response meets both state and federal legal requirements,” Hobbs said.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said his office is “working directly” with the Secretary of State’s office and other state agencies to “analyze the legality of that request to make sure if we have an obligation to respond, that we will do so in accordance with the law.”

Still, Brown said the Trump administration is conducting a “full-throated attack” on the state’s abilities to conduct elections, particularly those where voters largely submit mail-in ballots.

“This is despite very clear precedent that says that states have the ability to dictate the terms and conditions of their election systems,” Brown said.

Former Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, said in an interview Wednesday that the request was “unprecedented” during her career and raises concern over voter privacy.

“The first question I have, and the first concern I have, is what authority does the Department of Justice have to even get that information from Washington state or any other state?” Wyman said. “Under what authority are they getting private data? And does that violate any kind of state or federal law?”

During the first Trump administration, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity made a similar request to election officials in all 50 states for voter information, a request that also included party affiliation and records on felony convictions and military status.

Wyman said after consulting with attorneys, it was determined the commission could request publicly available data through a records request, which “the administration never did follow up on.”

“Other than that, I have never seen the federal government ask for this type of data,” Wyman said.

Wyman said the database includes voter information that is either partially or fully withheld from disclosure under the address confidentiality program, and other information that is not publicly available.

“Things like Social Security numbers and drivers’ licenses are also not public data. Those are data points that election officials use to compare against other lists,” Wyman said. “Those data points help election officials be able to differentiate between people who may share the same name and birthdate, but are two different people, or verify that a person who is in a database and has two different addresses, it may be an address change or a move, and this would be a way to update their record.”

The requested information, Wyman said, is also “just a snapshot in time” from a database that is “ever-changing.”

“Anywhere from 12 to 14% of the population moves every year,” Wyman said. “So even if they got the entire database from Washington state right now, and did whatever they’re going to do with it, it’s only a snapshot for the data at that point in time, and it’s always changing.”

While Wyman said she did not know what the Department of Justice’s intent was, the potential for the federal government to merge information from individual states into a federal voter database was her “biggest concern.”

A federal database, Wyman said, would not only raise additional privacy concerns but also increase the potential for hackers to access the data.

“So, I’m hoping that cool heads will prevail, and people will be really thoughtful in the collection of data,” Wyman said. “And more importantly, what they do with it once it’s collected.”