Washington D.C. – All Voting is Local Co-founder and CEO Hannah Fried issued the following statement in response to the Department of Justice (DOJ) launching lawsuits against nearly half of all U.S. states for access to private voter data:
“The Trump administration, in its obsession with the 2020 election results, has weaponized the U.S. Department of Justice to target sensitive voter data and states’ private and constitutionally protected voter rolls in an attempt to settle the score against voters. Across the nation, secretaries of state are being wrongfully condemned and sued because they refuse to bend to authoritarian demands to turn over private data, including Social Security numbers. Giving in to this overreach by the administration would be illegal, as many state laws protect our privacy and prohibit the disclosure of voters’ full date of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers. Let’s be clear – this is not about election safety. Our elections have already been proven safe.
“Demanding unrestricted access to the voting rolls is unlawful and could undermine future elections if opponents don’t like the results. All Voting is Local supports election administration officials who are holding the line and upholding their state’s laws. We commend them for protecting all voters by rejecting this gross overreach of power. Voter privacy is at stake, as there is no telling what this administration will do with voters’ personal identifying information. It is the states that run our elections, not the White House, and we must follow the law and let them continue doing their jobs.”