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Ten democratic Secretaries of State on Tuesday asked the Trump administration to provide more information about its sweeping efforts to comb through statewide voter registration lists, citing concerns that federal agencies may have apparently misled them and entered the data into a program used to verify U.S. citizenship.
In a letter sent to the Attorney General palm bondi And Homeland Security Secretary Kristi NoemThe Secretaries of State expressed “extreme concern” at those reports. Justice Department has shared states’ voter data with the Department of Homeland Security.
“Given the unprecedented nature and scope of DOJ’s requests, we need additional information about how this information will be used, shared, and secured,” they wrote.
The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
The Republican administration’s request for detailed voter data has become a major point of contention with Democratic states this year as the midterm elections in 2026 approach. The Justice Department has sought data from at least 26 states in recent months, including some Republican-led states, and sued eight for the information. At the same time, voting rights groups have sued the administration, arguing that a recent update to a federal tool for confirming citizenship could result in voters being illegally removed from voter rolls.
Some states have sent redacted versions of their voter rolls that are available to the public or have refused requests for voter data, citing their own state laws or the Justice Department’s failure to meet federal Privacy Act obligations. But the Justice Department has on several occasions explicitly sought copies that contain personally identifiable information, including voters’ names, dates of birth, addresses and driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers.
Even some GOP-controlled states, such as South Carolina, are grappling with the request amid negotiations with the administration over how to satisfy the demand to hand over such records.
In their letter, the 10 election officials said federal officials “shared confusing and sometimes contradictory information” at two recent meetings hosted by the National Association of Secretaries of State.
During an August meeting, a Justice Department official said the agency intended to use the voter information to ensure that states were maintaining their voter rolls in compliance with two federal voting laws.
But the following month, according to the letter, the Department of Homeland Security said it had received the voter data and would enter it into a federal program used to verify citizenship status. The letter said a Homeland Security official told secretaries of state during a September meeting that the department had not received or requested voter data.
The SAVE program, or Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement, is run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security. It has been around for decades and is widely used by local and state officials to check the citizenship status of people applying for public benefits through various federal databases.
According to public announcements, DHS and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency updated the SAVE program earlier this year. They made it free for election officials, allowed agencies to search thousands of voters instead of one at a time, and began allowing inquiries using names, birthdays and Social Security numbers, as opposed to requiring DHS-issued identification numbers.
The letter from the Democratic secretaries of state asks the administration to answer several questions, including whether the Justice Department has shared or intends to share voter files with the Department of Homeland Security or other federal agencies and, if so, how those other agencies will use the data.
“DHS told Secretaries of State they would not use – or have access to – voter information. Is DHS standing by this claim despite public reporting and statements that appear to contradict those statements?”. the letter asks.
Other questions focus on the privacy and security measures being taken to protect data and how federal agencies are complying with privacy laws.
The letter was sent by the secretaries of state of Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. He has asked the Trump administration to respond by December 1.