Federal agents might have breached state laws during a comprehensive search for unlawfully registered voters. This allegation comes from a federal whistleblower represented by the nonprofit Democracy Defenders Fund. Last week, they shared a report with Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California, which became public with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s assistance on Monday.
The report outlines actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last month, when they deployed personnel for the Unlawful Voter Initiative. Under this initiative, federal agents examined voter rolls, using personally identifiable information (PII) to confirm an individual’s voting history via state websites. The report claims that agents may have made false attestations that they are the voter or have authorization to access individual voter records, which may breach state laws. In states like Virginia, such attestations are necessary when accessing voter rolls.
The whistleblower suggests, “With the awareness and directives from leadership, the Unlawful Voter Initiative possibly violated state laws multiple times to improperly access voter records.”
Demands for comment from DHS by NPR remain unanswered. The whistleblower highlights that the Office of Chief Counsel at DHS’ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services advised federal agents on using state voter websites for “adjudicative or investigative” reasons. Initially reported by the New York Times, this initiative and potential legal violations are under scrutiny.
The whistleblower report includes training materials that recognize inconsistencies in voter data used by agents. Furthermore, the report notes that officers had a target of reviewing at least five subjects each hour and 40 daily, leaving just twelve minutes per review to assess if a person is a U.S. citizen or an “unlawful voter.”
Amidst these allegations, the Trump administration is conducting an extensive investigation across federal agencies to identify and prosecute noncitizens on state voter rolls. This effort intensifies as the November elections near. However, prior audits have shown that noncitizen voting is infrequent.
Senators Padilla and Schumer expressed concerns in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow. They urged a cessation of the initiative, stating, “DHS must not allow unreliable federal data or hasty investigations to hinder Americans’ voting rights or election administration.”
Leave a Reply