Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde has condemned Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s decision to transfer the sensitive voter registration data of nearly 8 million Ohioans to the U.S. Department of Justice, according to Democracy Docket.
The Republican official complied with a DOJ request seeking complete statewide voter rolls, including personally identifying information such as birthdates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and Social Security numbers. The agency claims the data is necessary to investigate how states maintain their voter rolls.
Clyde called the move “unacceptable,” accusing LaRose of putting politics over voters’ privacy rights.
“Frank LaRose’s failure to protect Ohio voters’ privacy by turning over our voter registration info to the DOJ is unacceptable,” she wrote on social media. “The Ohio Democratic Party is exploring all options to fight back against this egregious abuse of power.”
LaRose justified the transfer in a letter to the DOJ, framing it as necessary for election integrity and accurate voter roll maintenance. He acknowledged the data represents merely a “static snapshot” that cannot perfectly reflect Ohio’s constantly changing voter database.
“The list I am sending you, however, is a static snapshot,” LaRose wrote. “At no point in time will I be able to give the Department a demonstrably perfect image of our database.”
The data handover reflects a broader national battle over the DOJ’s aggressive pursuit of unredacted voter registration databases. The department has sued 29 states plus Washington, D.C. for refusing similar demands, though federal courts have already dismissed several lawsuits, including cases in California, Michigan, and Oregon.
The Republican National Committee defended the data sharing, arguing that state cooperation with federal investigators is necessary to enforce election laws.
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