Illinois resists Trump DOJ request for sensitive voter data
Illinois resists Trump DOJ request for sensitive voter data
President Trump's Department of Justice is in a tug-of-war with Illinois after the state is pushing back to a request for access to sensitive voter data.
President Trump's Department of Justice is engaged in a tug-of-war with the State of Illinois' election authorities.
The Illinois State Board of Elections is reviewing a request from the Department of Justice to get access to all the state's sensitive voter data, something that has legal experts confused and worried.
So far, Illinois officials have resisted the federal government's request.
What we know:
In a letter dated Aug. 14, the head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division asked Illinois Election Board Executive Director Sarah Matthews for sensitive data on Illinois voters.
The data includes "the registrant's full name, date of birth, residential address, his or her state driver's license number or the last four digits of the registrant's social security number as required under the Help America Vote Act."
The letter came after the board responded to an initial request by sending limited information on voters that protects personal data. It's the same information that the general public is able to purchase, and something utilized by political parties and action committees.
But the DOJ said that response was not sufficient.
Justin Levitt, an election law expert at Loyola Marymount Law School, said a Nixon-era law guaranteed that the federal government does not have a right to what it's asking for.
"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.
He also said he's concerned that the DOJ hasn't outlined exactly what they want to do with that info.
"I shouldn't have to guess," he said. "We shouldn't have to guess. We shouldn't have to suppose. Federal law says you have to tell us before you start collecting our data."
Last week, Gov. JB Pritzker mused that he thought the Trump administration was using this to try and '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."
The request comes as Trump renewed his threat against mail-in voting on Monday, saying he would sign an executive order outlawing it, and making false claims of fraud.
On this, Levitt also says the sole authority to run elections rests with state and local governments.
"States don't have to listen to a federal executive order," Levitt said. "Executive orders tell the federal government what to do. They tell federal agencies what to do, but they can't tell state or local officials how to do their business."
The Justice Department gave the Illinois Board of Elections until Wednesday to give up that information.
A spokesperson for the board did not comment other than to say that they are reviewing the request.
The Department of Justice said it has no comment on the matter.