Rep. Russo Comments on USA v. Benson and Need for Data Protection and Privacy
COLUMBUS — State Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) today remarked on yesterday’s 6th circuit decision affirming the district court in denying the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) the right to Michigan voter’s private data. Ohio is also in the 6th circuit (as is Kentucky who refused to give the records) but Ohio Secretary of State, Frank LaRose claimed he was bound by law to give over all details of the voter rolls including driver’s license information, Social Security Numbers, and other nonpublic information. For more than two months, his office has also failed to provide requested public records related to this communication.
“Our neighbors up north and bipartisan leaders in other states are protecting the privacy of their voters,” said Rep. Russo. “And this latest decision by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirms the right of states to do so. Yet, here in Ohio after more than two months of asking for transparency we can’t even get clarity about what non-public voting data our Secretary of State actually provided to the DOJ.”
The DOJ sued 30 states demanding they turn over voter registration lists including sensitive voter data and other nonpublic information. To date, no court has sided with the Trump administration. Ohio has given the Secretary of State’s office incredible access and power to investigate and flag voter registrations through use of private voter information; with that power comes a duty of transparency into how the information is used and an obligation to protect private information from improper demands. Currently, Ohio is only one of sixteen states that has willingly provided the DOJ sensitive voter data.
Rep. Russo has introduced House Bill 801, the “Ohio Privacy Act” which would protect Ohioans from government overreach by requiring personal information collected by state agencies to be used only for the necessary reasons it was collected. She has also requested records from the Secretary of State’s office to understand the scope of information shared with federal agencies.