Trump’s voter citizenship push takes new turn as State Department weighs wider data sharing
WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration has expanded its efforts to verify voter citizenship ahead of the November midterm elections. The State Department is considering how passport records could be shared with state and local governments and other entities for citizenship and voter-eligibility checks.
Previously, the Trump administration directed the US Postal Service to implement an executive order to filter mail-in ballots by matching them with state-provided data.
The USPS was instructed to block the delivery of mail-in ballots to any voter whose name was not on a pre-submitted list of approved voters.
State Dep is thinking of sharing passports to avoid non-citizen votes
The State Department is “assessing” how to share passport information with state and local governments, as well as some nonprofit groups, ahead of the midterm elections.
According to the department’s spokesperson, the goal is to share the information in a way that “protects Americans’ data, deters fraud and supports the integrity of US citizenship.”
The State Department’s statement follows a 6-3 Supreme Court decision Friday, September 25, that allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide citizenship information to local governments so they can verify whether registered voters are US citizens.
The DOJ revealed the plan in a court filing earlier last week, in which it said the administration will begin using passport records to identify noncitizens on voter registration lists.
State Dep to share notice on passport data sharing soon
According to the filing, the State Department will soon publish a notice in the Federal Register, the federal government’s official daily publication, proposing to share “information contained in the Passport Services Records system” with other federal agencies, which were not identified.
According to a report by Democracy Docket, once the notice is issued, passport information would be shared with entities using federal verification systems “for the purpose of verifying identity or citizenship for users accessing government websites and applications, voter eligibility and other governmental services.”
The record includes personal information on everyone who has applied for a US passport.
Why the State Department needs to issue a notice
The State Department is required to share notification due to a 1974 federal privacy law mandating the government to provide public notice before using personal information, such as names or Social Security numbers, in a new way. The filing said the notice could be published as soon as October 22.
The filing was submitted as part of a lawsuit by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee against Trump over his mail voting order. The Supreme Court recently blocked the Postal Service from enforcing parts of the order, but other parts remain in place.
The lawsuit now focuses on those remaining parts. They direct DHS to use its own records, Social Security records, and other federal data to create lists of businesses in every state.
