Nebraska to hand over sensitive voter data to the Justice Department after court loss
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state will submit sensitive information on all registered voters in the state to the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday after Nebraska’s highest court rejected a legal effort to block the move.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen told The Associated Press that the Nebraska Supreme Court denied the preliminary injunction on Wednesday.
A state judge last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by government watchdog Common Cause, which sought to stop the release of voter information, including dates of birth, addresses and partial Social Security numbers, to the federal government.
“This lawsuit threatens the unprecedented and unlawful disclosure of every Nebraska voter’s highly sensitive information,” Common Cause attorneys wrote in a brief seeking an injunction. “The bell cannot be rung once the data is released.”
His legal battle in Nebraska comes after an FBI raid that saw him 2020 ballot papers were seized and other election documents declaring that he wanted from Georgia’s Fulton County and President Donald Trump “Take over” the elections With the November midterm elections on the horizon, it is from districts run by Democrats.
The federal Justice Department began cracking down on states last year handing over voter data and other election information. The department has sued at least 23 states and the District of Columbia in its efforts to obtain voter rolls.
Evnen said Wednesday that he gave voter information to the Justice Department so it could evaluate whether Nebraska was complying with federal voting laws. He noted that the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office recommended that the federal request was “lawful and appropriate.”
He said his office would upload the information electronically to the Justice Department and file a request to comply with privacy laws.
In a written statement from his office, Evnen said he was committed to protecting voters’ personal information from misuse.
But when asked if he was positive that Nebraska voter information would be kept safe and would not result in legitimate voters being removed from their voter roles, Evnen responded: “The only thing I’m sure of is that the sun won’t get caught on the tree when it sets tonight.”
Evnen said the state will not remove people from voter rolls based solely on recommendations from the Department of Justice. Instead, election officials would conduct their own investigations and first contact anyone tagged for removal from the list.
Earlier this week a federal judge rejected department’s effort to obtain Michigan’s voter rolls.
The Justice Department said it sought the data as part of an effort to ensure election security, but Democratic officials say the request violates state and federal privacy laws. Election officials have expressed concern that federal officials are trying to use sensitive data for other purposes, such as searching for potential noncitizens in the records.
Elections in the United States are administered at the state and local levels, where individual voter information is stored.
