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Illinois denies Trump DOJ request for sensitive voter data
Illinois state election officials denied a request from the Department of Justice for sensitive voter information.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois state election officials denied a request from the Department of Justice for sensitive voter information.
The Illinois State Board of Elections sent a letter to Department of Justice officials on Tuesday saying that sharing such information would put the privacy of Illinoisans at risk.
What we know:
Last month, the DOJ asked the state election board for data including the full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of the social security numbers of registered voters in the state.
"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," wrote Marni M. Malowitz, general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Malowitz said the state did submit its Voter Registration List, which excludes certain personal information like social security and driver’s license numbers, and which is available to political parties.
The state election board attorney went on to cite multiple provisions in federal and state laws that restrict its ability to share sensitive voter data.
In response, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, of the Department of Justice, said: "Clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for free, fair, and transparent elections. The DOJ Civil Rights Division has a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, and ensuring the public's confidence in the integrity of our elections is a top priority of this administration."
What they're saying:
Justin Levitt, an election law expert at Loyola Marymount Law School, told Fox 32 last month that a Nixon-era law guaranteed that the federal government does not have a right to ask for such voter data.
"Just because the public can get it, just because you or I can walk in off the street and get the voter file, or just because a campaign can get the voter file, doesn't mean the federal government can," Levitt said.
Gov. JB Pritzker mused that he thought the Trump administration wanted to use the data to "rig" future elections.
"Well, it's clear why they're hunting around for voter data, right?" Pritzker said. "They're trying to say that in the next election that there would be fraud because they know they're gonna lose."