A group of Oklahomans on Monday said they’re prepared to sue the federal government if they continue trying to push state leaders to release protected voter information.
C.J. Webber-Neal, a member of Sooner State Party, said at a press conference outside the State Election Board offices that the Department of Justice does not need access to Oklahoman’s protected voter information, like Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers.
Continued requests for that information amount to government overreach and could disincentivize Oklahomans from participating in elections, he said.
“I think that it does not even help with voter integrity because now voters are going to be concerned about voting,” Webber-Neal said. “So that’s going to cause voters maybe not to go vote because they know that the government is going to have that information and it might affect them adversely.”
The Department of Justice’s request, made to most states, seeks records like voter registration lists, ballots from previous elections, and voters’ driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The Oklahoma Election Board previously provided Oklahoma’s publicly available voter information, but recently notified the Department of Justice that state law barred them from sharing the other requested data, including Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, according to reporting from Oklahoma City television station KFOR.
The State Election Board did not return repeated requests for comment Monday.
“I know that a lot of people are kind of painting this as a red issue or a blue issue,” Webber-Neal said. “This is an Oklahoma issue.”
Sooner State Party is also collecting signatures in an effort to become the state’s fourth recognized political party.
The DOJ did not immediately return a request for comment.
At least 20 states have been sued by the federal government for not complying with the request, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Eleven states have provided, or said they would provide, voter registration lists including driver’s license and Social Security numbers. These states include Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
“We’ve heard from the Election Board as far as what their decision has been, but we also need to start contacting our state officials to let them know that we support the Election Board and we don’t want any influences trying to go against the election board,” Webber-Neal said.
Republished from Oklahoma Voice.
