State refuses part of Trump voter information request
Florida official cites public records laws
TALLAHASSEE — Florida on Thursday became the latest state to refuse to hand over at least some of the sensitive voter information requested by a federal commission set up by President Donald Trump.
At least 44 other states have declined to comply with at least part of the commission’s request.
Democrats have decried it as a possible move to remove Democratic voters from the rolls, and some Republicans have expressed concern about giving private information to the federal government.
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner sent a letter to the commission saying his department won’t give out information related to drivers licenses or partial Social Security numbers because the information is exempt from the state’s public records laws.
“Although most of the information you’ve requested is available to the public in Florida, we cannot fully comply with your entire request,” the letter states.
The request from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was sent to all 50 states, asking for voters’ names, addresses, dates of birth, political
party affiliation, voter history going back to 2006, criminal history, registration history in other states and military status.
The request asks for “publicly available” voter roll data as part of the panel’s mission to prevent voter fraud.
The response from states has ranged from outright rejection of all of the requested information to partial compliance.
“They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” said Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, about the commission.
Florida was one of the last states to respond to the commission’s request.
Detzner is an appointee of Gov. Rick Scott, an early and vocal supporter of Trump. Scott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Much of the information requested is public record under Florida’s “Government in the Sunshine” laws and is regularly given to political parties, candidates, political science professors and other groups looking to target voters with ads.
Detzner, though, says that Social Security numbers are exempt from the “Sunshine” laws. Also, the personal information for certain classes of people — police officers, judges, prosecutors, victims of stalking or domestic violence — is exempt, as well.
The letter also points out that Florida’s voter database doesn’t collect information on felonies or other criminal histories of voters, so that won’t be given to the commission, either.
Democrats across the country and in Florida have blasted the request as a backdoor attempt to purge Democratic voters from the rolls.
Florida Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon of Miami Gardens sent a letter to Detzner earlier Thursday, asking him not to comply with the request.
After Detzner’s letter was released, Braynon said he realizes the public records laws must be followed.
But he was skeptical of the Trump administration’s motives in asking for the information.
“I still question whether the end goal is not voter suppression,” Braynon said.
Braynon said the commission, created by Trump via an executive order in May, was set up to dig up evidence to back up Trump’s claim that millions of illegal votes were cast, giving Hillary Clinton her popular vote win in the election.
Trump won the Electoral College vote and the presidency despite losing the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes.
“Are we going to possibly poke holes in our democracy all to prove that he won by a certain number?” Braynon said.