Louisiana is one of a handful of states that will turn over detailed voter information to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). As Louisiana Public Radio (LPR) reports, federal authorities say the disclosures are necessary to make sure states are maintaining voter information properly.
Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry confirmed in an unrelated press conference that Louisiana will hand over voter registration data to the federal government including voters’ full names, birthdays, home addresses, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Louisiana is one of ten states to provide a full voter registration list at this time.
So far, the DOJ has sued 23 states and the District of Columbia for failing to provide their respective lists. Both Landry and the DOJ defended the need for the data to help ensure states have proper voter registration and voter list maintenance programs.” This vast collection of personal data by the federal government has raised serious privacy and security concerns. One of the key issues is the possible violation of state and federal laws.
The Brennan Center for Justice, an independent, nonpartisan law and policy institute, described the demands by the Trump administration as “unprecedented and a clear encroachment on states’ power to run elections.”
Dozens of states have asked why, specifically, the DOJ is demanding access to voters’ personal information. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has said, “They won’t tell us.” Some analysts, including those at the Brennan Center, strongly suspect the Trump administration is attempting to create a national voter registration database and potentially “sow distrust in the election system ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.”
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Voting Rights Lab, [which describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit agency advocating election rights], proposed requirements that voters provide election officials with documentation proving their U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote pose a serious threat to the freedom to vote.
Agency leaders say research shows “proof-of-citizenship mandates could block millions of voting-eligible citizens from casting a ballot, especially low-income and rural individuals, married women, and seniors.”
