OLYMPIA, Wash. – The State of Washington Secretary of State released a statement today saying that the U.S. Department of Justice requested a full copy of the Washington state Voter Registration Database within 14 days.
The Department of Justice request was signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
The State of Washington Secretary of State said it was assessing the request.
The request specifies that it is looking for voter registrants’ full name, date of birth, residential address, and state driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Similar requests have gone out to at least twenty-two states, said the Secretary of State’s office.
“As Washington’s chief election official, it is my responsibility to ensure the election process is safe, secure, and transparent,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said. “This includes protecting Washingtonians’ voter information and privacy. I will work with all stakeholders to ensure we maintain both.
“To that end, I do not plan on releasing any information until DOJ provides me information on what they plan to do with the data. My office will respond to the DOJ once I’ve had the opportunity to fully assess that information while working with stakeholders, and ensuring our response meets both state and federal legal requirements.”
The Secretary of State’s office wrote that, according to Washington state law, full date of birth, driver’s license number and the last four digits of an individual’s Social Security number are protected information and are not included in any publicly available voter registration database.
