Illinois state officials told the Department of Justice they won’t be turning over voter data, despite the Trump administration’s request.
In a letter to DOJ officials Tuesday, Illinois election officials said that submitting the information would violate state law, risking Illinoisans’ privacy.
“We take Illinoisans’ privacy very seriously; data breaches and hacking are unfortunately common, and the disclosure of sensitive information contrary to state law would expose our residents to undue risk,” wrote Marni M. Malowitz, general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The data demanded by DOJ include registered voters’ names, dates of birth, residential addresses, and either a state driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number.
The state’s refusal comes amidst an escalating stand-off between state Gov. JB Pritzker and President Donald Trump, following the latter’s repeated threats to deploy the National Guard to help the state fight crime in Chicago.
On Tuesday, Trump said in an Oval Office event, “We’re going in. I didn’t say when, we’re going in.”
Pritzker responded on X, “There’s no emergency that warrants deploying troops in Chicago.”
“I want to go into Chicago, and I have this embarrassing governor who doesn’t want us,” Trump commented Wednesday.
That’s not the only scuffle between the state and the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the DOJ filed a complaint in federal court challenging Illinois state laws that offer in-state tuition and scholarships to illegal aliens. It says those laws illegally discriminate against U.S. citizens, violating both federal law and the Constitution.
In the voter data dispute, Illinois State Board of Elections points to its August submission of its voter registration list, which contains the same information provided to political parties and includes some—but not all—the requested data.
But that list was rejected by the DOJ in an Aug. 14 letter demanding that Illinois provide the full information, which Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said is “required under the Help America Vote Act.” The DOJ had set a deadline of Sep. 1 for Illinois to turn over the data.
Since May, the DOJ has requested details about voters, elections, or election officials from at least 26 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
On Tuesday, a South Carolina judge temporarily blocked the state election board from handing over its voter data, pending a hearing set for Sept. 9.
Also on Tuesday, Michigan Department of State officials said they’d hand over some—but not all—of the information requested by the DOJ.