Pennsylvania rejects DOJ request for voter rolls with personal data

Pennsylvania's top election officer rebuffed an attempt from the Trump administration this week to obtain sensitive personal information, including driver's license and Social Security numbers, for all state voters.

“This request and reported efforts to collect broad data on millions of Americans represent a concerning attempt to expand the federal government’s role in our country's electoral process," Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt wrote in a letter Thursday to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division.

President Trump's administration has reportedly reached out to several states to acquire more data on registered voters, arguing it's necessary for states to prove compliance with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. The effort is part of Trump's broader push against noncitizens voting, even though there's little evidence to back up claims that ineligible voters have cast ballots.

Schmidt, a Republican, offered to provide the DOJ with a public version of the voter list with basic details, such as the names, ages, addresses and voting histories, but he said it would violate state law to disclose Social Security and driver's license numbers.

"As Pennsylvania’s chief election official, I take seriously my obligation to ensure that our county election officials faithfully maintain our voter rolls," he wrote. "Likewise, I take seriously my responsibility to safeguard the private information that Pennsylvanians entrust to the care of our county election officials."

"None of the legal bases provided in your letter justify or authorize providing these fields and disregarding the strong protections on voter privacy enshrined in our Commonwealth's laws," he added.

The DOJ didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ's assistant attorney general for civil rights, wrote in an Aug. 14 letter to Schmidt that the additional information was necessary to "ascertain Pennsylvania's compliance with the list maintenance requirements" in federal law.

Schmidt, who publicly rejected Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential outcome while serving on a Philadelphia elections panel, gained national prominence after he pushed back on conspiracy theories that the Keystone State's voter rolls were prime for fraud or corruption.

"I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all and seen them spread," he said in an interview with CNN in November 2020.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) appointed Schmidt to lead the state's election efforts in 2023.