Trump administration demands state voter data, including partial Social Security numbers

"(CNN) The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to obtain personal information about tens of millions of voters across the country, including seeking sensitive data such as partial Social Security numbers. The push, overseen by the Department of Justice, comes as President Donald Trump asserts a larger federal role in elections ahead of next year's midterms, which are set to determine which party controls Congress during his last two years in the White House."

"In recent weeks, state election officials have received letters from Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, seeking unredacted copies of states' voter registration databases. The information includes voters' names, birthdates, addresses, and driver's license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. The agency has told states that the information is necessary to ensure compliance with a federal law that requires states to maintain accurate voter registration rolls."

The Justice Department sought unredacted voter registration databases from states, requesting names, birthdates, addresses, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The request, sent by Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division, was justified as necessary to ensure compliance with a federal law requiring accurate voter rolls. Several state election officials refused to comply, arguing that states run elections and that the federal demand oversteps authority and endangers voters' privacy. State officials emphasized existing procedures for ongoing voter-list maintenance and warned that any snapshot sent to the federal government would quickly become outdated.

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