IL election officials get letter requesting voter data

During the last election, Donald Trump claimed that he would have won the popular vote had millions of illegals not voted.

Hoosier voters concerned about the sweeping information being requested by the commission investigating alleged voter fraud during the 2016 election have less reason to worry, for now. But the letter stresses the information is only to be passed on if it is already publicly available.

“Although most of the information you’ve requested is available to the public in Florida, we can not fully comply with your entire request”, the letter states. To put the requested voter information on an unsecured federal website as Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach is asking – even though some of this information is available under the state’s public records laws – would be reckless. Some other conservative states, such as Texas, say state laws only allow for partial responses. But some of the harshest criticism of the request has come from fellow secretaries of state. The request is simply too broad and includes sensitive information of Arkansas voters.

It does not contain any information on who you voted for or any personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or full dates of birth.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is expected to make a decision by the end of week in the lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by privacy rights group Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The letter arrived Wednesday at Secretary of State Jesse White’s office.

The letter also points out that Florida’s voter database doesn’t collect information on felonies or other criminal histories of voters, so that won’t be given to the commission, either. The state has until July 14 to formally respond to the commission.

Kobach appeared to be referring to a CNN report, which counted a state as non-complying if it said it would not or could not provide every piece of information the commission requested.

But the division’s director, Robert Giles, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that no voter information will be released “that is not publicly available”.

The law states that before collecting information from the public, federal agencies must solicit public comments and received approval from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Most states are refusing the request either for security, privacy and legal reasons, or because they see the commission and its request being politically motivated.

Crank says the voter fraud investigation is a way to safeguard one of America’s most sacred institutions.

“The request for partial Social Security numbers that are often used as default passwords for commercial services, coupled with the commission’s plan to make such information ‘publicly available, ‘ is both without precedent and insane”, the group said in a Monday court filing. “The [commission] can only provide voter data to a registered SC voter”.