Democracy
Illinois officials prevent Trump’s DoJ from accessing sensitive voter data
On Tuesday, the Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE) denied a request from the Department of Justice (DoJ) which asked for sensitive voter information.
President Donald Trump’s DoJ demanded access to Illinois’ complete statewide voter registration database — including birthdates, Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers — for roughly 8.3 million registered voters. ISBE provided the DoJ a copy of the data with names and addresses, but with sensitive data redacted.
In a letter to the department, ISBE general counsel Marni Malowitz said providing the unredacted data would expose Illinoisians to unnecessary risk.
“We take Illinoisans’ privacy very seriously; data breaches and hacking are unfortunately common, and the disclosure of sensitive information contrary to state law would expose our residents to undue risk,” Malowitz wrote.
The DoJ said it wants to ensure that Illinois is complying with requirements from the National Voter Registration Act and that additional information is necessary to combat voter fraud.
Illinois is one of at least 21 states that the Trump administration has demanded sensitive data from.