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Politics

US weighs opening passport records to state officials for voter citizenship checks

The US State Department plans to give state and local officials access to passport records to verify voters' citizenship, Bloomberg reports, adding 'voter eligibility' to the records' routine uses.

By James Calloway · · 1 min read

The US State Department headquarters, the Harry S. Truman Building, in Washington DC
Photo: The American Conservative

The US State Department is moving to give state and local officials — and potentially some nonprofit organisations — access to passport records to verify voters’ citizenship, according to Bloomberg News reporting published on September 25.

The plan was laid out in a notice recently sent to key lawmakers on Capitol Hill. It would add “voter eligibility” to the official list of “routine uses” for the State Department’s passport services records, a change that would formally open the records to entities beyond government.

Historically, the records’ uses have primarily involved domestic and international government agencies and officials. A copy of the notice obtained by Bloomberg News does not specify which nonprofit groups would be eligible under the new arrangement.

Based on bureaucratic timelines, the proposal would not take effect until after the November 3 midterm elections, when Republicans are defending their slim majority in Congress.

The move dovetails with the Trump administration’s campaign to tap federal records for election-fraud investigations and voter-roll reviews. Democracy Docket reported on September 23 that a Justice Department court filing said the State Department would share passport records with federal agencies for voter eligibility checks.

Sources

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