The State Department is currently evaluating options to share federal passport records with state and local election officials, and potentially certain nonprofit organizations, to verify the citizenship status of registered voters. This assessment comes in preparation for the November midterm elections, aiming to ensure that all individuals on voter rolls are indeed U.S. citizens.
A department spokesperson indicated that the initiative's goal is to facilitate information sharing while simultaneously “protecting Americans' data, deterring fraud, and supporting the integrity of U.S. citizenship.”
This proposed plan was revealed by the Justice Department in a recent court filing, outlining federal officials' intent to utilize passport records to pinpoint individuals who may not be citizens on voter registration lists.
Federal Plan for Voter Verification
According to the court document, the State Department intends to issue a public notice in the Federal Register. This notice will propose sharing data from its Passport Services Records system with other federal agencies. The filing specifies that this notice would authorize “information sharing with various entities utilizing federal government verification platforms, for the purpose of verifying the identity or citizenship for users accessing government websites and applications, voter eligibility, and other governmental services.” The data earmarked for sharing by the administration encompasses personally identifiable information held within the State Department’s Passport Services Records.
Legal Framework and Timelines
Under the provisions of the 1974 Privacy Act, federal agencies are mandated to provide public notification when establishing a new “routine use” for records within a federal system. The Justice Department's filing indicated that this notice could appear in the Federal Register as soon as October 22.
Broader Context of Citizenship Checks
This court filing emerged shortly before a recent 6-3 Supreme Court ruling. That decision permitted the Department of Homeland Security to share citizenship data, enabling local governments to confirm the U.S. citizenship of registered voters. Prior efforts by the administration to verify voter eligibility using federal records typically drew upon data from the Social Security Administration and DHS; however, many such initiatives faced successful legal challenges and were subsequently halted.
The filing itself was submitted as part of a lawsuit initiated by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, alongside other Democratic plaintiffs. This legal challenge contests President Trump's executive order concerning mail voting. The Supreme Court recently declined to overturn a lower-court injunction, which has prevented the U.S. Postal Service from finalizing its mail-ballot regulations for the November elections.
