WISCONSIN – Yesterday, it was announced that the federal government was suing Wisconsin over a bipartisan decision by members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission not to provide unredacted voter roll information to the Department of Justice. This decision was made in a 5-1 vote among the 3 Republican and 3 Democrat representatives of WEC, in concordance with Wisconsin state law.
The Federal Government, like any actor, has access to the Wisconsin voter roll with specific personally identfiable information like Social Security Numbers redacted to protect the privacy of Wisconsinites. The Department of Justice continues to have access to this information, but this lawsuit asks to overstep state law prohibiting the release of that personal information.
The bipartisan board of DDP-WI – former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former U.S. Rep. Scott Klug and former DPW Chair Mike Tate – released the following statement in response to news of yesterday’s lawsuit
“The administration of our elections is a power NOT enumerated to the federal government as part of our 10th Amendment. The constitution is clear on this. As such, the federal government is overstepping their power in defiance of the federalist principles our Founders laid out; the same Founders that the President claims to uphold as the final arbiters of true patriotism. We are asking the Department of Justice to let Wisconsin, not Washington, handle Wisconsin elections – when you actually look at the numbers, we’ve gotten pretty darn good at it.”
