Overview

• The Justice Department’s Aug. 14 letters seek voter files with all fields, including driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, with Nevada asked to provide data for 2.1 million voters within seven days.
• Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said the state will not release its full voter registration database and offered only the redacted public file, citing state law that bars disclosure of confidential identifiers.
• Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar called the request unprecedented in scope, basis and urgency, said his office needs time to review its legality, and accused the federal government of trying to intimidate the state into sharing protected data.
• DOJ says it is assessing compliance with the National Voter Registration Act and Help America Vote Act, citing case law and asserting the data can be inspected without raising privacy concerns under federal civil rights protections.
• Schmidt also corrected DOJ readings of federal election survey data, noting Pennsylvania’s duplicate registration figure and other entries were mischaracterized, and pointing out basic errors such as misstating the number of counties in the state.