The Department of Justice plans to order all states to hand over voter registration data
COLUMBIA — South Carolina can’t hand over its voter data to the federal government — at least, not yet.
A circuit court judge’s order Tuesday prevents the state Election Commission from providing the requested voter registration data ahead of a hearing next week.
The order follows a lawsuit, filed last Friday in Calhoun County, that seeks to prevent South Carolina from providing voters’ information to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The federal agency’s letter, dated Aug. 6, was part of a nationwide push by the Trump administration to get voter rolls from all states. It set a deadline of this Friday and seeks information that includes full names, addresses, drivers’ license numbers and final digits of Social Security numbers. How, exactly, that information will be used is unclear.
Some states declined straight away, citing voters’ privacy.
South Carolina’s Election Commission staff started working last week to fulfill the administration’s request for the information, agency spokesman John Michael Catalano said in an email Wednesday.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Calhoun County voter Anne Crook argues divulging her personal information is an invasion of her privacy.
The state constitution guarantees residents a right to privacy, and state law prohibits divulging certain personal information, wrote her attorney, Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, in the court filing.
State law also requires the Election Commission keep all personal information confidential, wrote the Orangeburg Democrat.
Hutto’s concern over the federal government getting people’s private information grew after a whistleblower claimed last month the Department of Government Efficiency put millions of people’s Social Security numbers at risk of hacking, Hutto told the SC Daily Gazette.
A similar lapse with other personal information, such as driver’s license numbers, could open people up to identity theft and other crimes, he said.
Crook, a former president of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, had concerns over how that data might be used that other residents shared, Hutto said.
“I think most people have some questions about why the federal government wants their data,” Hutto said.
Judge Diane Goodstein’s order may bring some answers.
Releasing a voter’s personal information could cause “immediate and irreparable damage” in violating her right to privacy, wrote the 1st Circuit Court judge in putting any transfer of information on hold.
The lawsuit is filed against the state Election Commission, which must hire its own attorneys. State Attorney General Alan Wilson is not named, and his office will not step in to represent the elections agency, a spokesman said.
The U.S. Department of Justice takes the stance that state law shouldn’t keep states from releasing voter information, reads the Aug. 6 letter as well as a follow-up letter sent just over a week later. They cite federal voter registration laws that the nation’s attorney general is tasked with enforcing, claiming those laws give the department the right to access voter data.
Goodstein set a hearing for Sept. 10 in Aiken to hear arguments over whether she should keep the block in place.
Until then, the Election Commission “will continue to coordinate with the DOJ to explore lawful options for data sharing while adhering to the court’s order,” Catalano said.
Gov. Henry McMaster’s office asked a judge Thursday to join the case alongside the Election Commission.
While McMaster said he believed the Department of Justice had the legal right to ask for the information, he also said he’d like to enter a formal agreement outlining that the department shares the state’s concern with citizens’ privacy.
Most of the information included in voter registration rolls is already available to federal officials, McMaster said.
The names, addresses and birthdays are also available for anyone to purchase, he said.
“The federal government does have the authority to ask for those things, but we want to be assured, because of our interest in, and because it’s in our constitution about privacy,” that the department will enter that agreement, McMaster said.