Sending Office: Honorable David N. Cicilline
Sent By:
Matthew.McGinn@mail.house.gov
Dear Colleague:
In June of last year, President Trump’s so-called “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” requested personally identifiable information of voters from all 50 states. It was reported recently that the commission’s intent is to store this
information in a centralized federal database. Please join me in asking Congressional appropriators to prohibit federal funding for Fiscal Year 2018 from being used for such purposes.
In addition to threatening the privacy of millions of Americans, the establishment of such a centralized data base would pose significant security risks. In December,
several national security and technology experts filed an amicus brief arguing that such a database would become a prime target for cyberattacks by hackers and adversarial nations. Congress must act responsibly and demand that any omnibus appropriations
bill for FY 2018 include language prohibiting the use of funds to build or maintain a centralized database of private voter information.
If you would like to sign on to this letter, or have any additional questions, please contact Matt McGinn (matthew.mcginn@mail.house.gov) in my office.
The deadline for cosigners is Tuesday, January 9, 2018.
Sincerely,
David N. Cicilline
Member of Congress
Dear Chairmen Frelinghuysen and Cochran, Ranking Member Lowey, and Vice Ranking Member Leahy:
As you continue negotiations of legislation to fund the Federal Government for Fiscal Year 2018, we ask that you include language prohibiting funds from being used for the establishment of a federal voter information database.
It has recently been reported that the Trump Administration is considering the establishment of a centralized database of voter information using data requested from states by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Such a database may
contain sensitive voter information, including names, addresses, and partial social security numbers, and could become a prime target for criminal hackers and adversarial nations. Last month, several security and technology experts, including former Director
of National Intelligence James Clapper and former White House Senior Director for Cybersecurity Policy Andrew Grotto, filed an amicus brief urging that the collection of voter information and the formation of a planned database be stopped. Experts cited these
security concerns, as well as a lack of adequate safeguards to protect such a database.
It is imperative that Congress take steps to guard against exposing Americans’ personal information to those who would seek to obtain it for malicious reasons. As such, Congressional appropriators should not allow taxpayer funds to be used to put this information
at risk. We ask that you include the following language in any final omnibus appropriations legislation:
None of the funds made available by this act shall be used to establish or maintain a centralized federal database which contains personally identifiable information of American voters, including names, addresses, dates of birth, or full
or partial social security numbers.
We thank you for your attention to this critical issue, and we ask that you take these common sense steps to protect the personal information of American voters.
Sincerely,
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