Press releases
Election Officials Urge Congress to Confront Voter Data Power Grab Before Bondi Hearing
Media Contact
Georgia Lyon
Interim Senior Communications Manager
Ahead of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this week, current and former election officials are urging Congress to step in and demand answers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) about its sweeping push to collect states’ sensitive voter data.
In a letter released today, a bipartisan group of current and former election officials from Issue One’s Faces of Democracy warned that the DOJ’s campaign to obtain unredacted statewide voter registration data from 40 states is putting voter privacy at risk, undermining states’ constitutional authority, and distracting election offices from preparing for upcoming elections.
The election officials emphasize that they “know first hand that free, fair, and secure elections depend on respecting states’ primary authority to run elections, public trust, and the careful protection of voters’ personal information.”
The signees, including New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, cite the DOJ’s voter roll demands, the lawsuits filed against states that refused, and Attorney General Bondi’s January 24 letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, which tied a demand for voter roll data to federal immigration enforcement and other unrelated state policy issues.
That combination, the letter argues, raises serious red flags about executive branch overreach and political pressure on election administration.
“Voter registration systems contain highly sensitive personal information,” the officials write, warning that the DOJ “has provided little explanation for how sensitive information would be stored, protected, or whether it could be shared with other federal agencies.”
The letter urges Congress to hold robust oversight hearings, require transparency from the DOJ, and reaffirm that states — not the executive branch — are preeminent in running elections.
“This hearing is Congress’s chance to draw a clear line,” said Issue One Policy Director, Michael McNulty. “If the Department of Justice wants access to sensitive voter data, it must explain why it needs it, how it will protect it, and what it plans to do with it. Congress should insist on nothing less, because it has the power to hold the Department of Justice to account.”