Senator Wyden demands answers on national voter database initiative
Kelsey Merison
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is demanding answers from Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano over a recent executive order that would create a national voter database. The order requires the Social Security Administration to share citizenship data with the Department of Homeland Security to establish a list of eligible voters across the United States.
Wyden, the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, expressed concerns that the directive undermines the rights of states to manage their own registered voter lists. The move comes amid ongoing debates over mail-in voting and the introduction of the SAVE America Act. That bill is currently under consideration by the Senate and contains similar provisions that would compel states to share voter registration lists with the Department of Homeland Security to verify citizenship.
Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, sent a formal letter to Bisignano characterizing the executive order as an attempt to suppress mail-in voting. He argued that the use of private Social Security Administration data acts as a “backdoor” to influence federal election eligibility.
“This latest brazen attempt to create a national voter database aims to undermine the rights of states to conduct their own elections, including manage their registered voter lists and use private SSA data as a backdoor to give Donald Trump power over who is eligible to vote in federal elections,” Wyden wrote. “Facilitating Trump’s directive to create a flawed voter database would be willing participation in blatant voter suppression ahead of consequential midterm elections.”
The U.S. Constitution grants states the power to establish the times, places, and manner of elections. This includes the creation and management of voter lists. The Trump administration has previously requested that states provide their voter registration lists, leading to concerns regarding privacy, security, and potential violations of the Privacy Act. The creation of a national database would give the administration unprecedented access to private voter data.
Oregon serves as a primary example in the debate over voting methods because it is one of nine states that conducts elections by mail. While the administration has claimed mail-in voting leads to higher cases of fraud, state data shows a low incidence of criminal activity.
A review by Oregon’s Legislative Fiscal Office found that approximately 61 million ballots were cast between 2000 and 2019. During that 19-year period, there were 38 criminal convictions for voter fraud in Oregon. This represents a fraud rate of .00006%. These findings contradict assertions that mail-in systems are prone to widespread abuse.
Wyden also addressed the timing of the executive order in relation to upcoming midterm elections. He criticized the administration’s broader policy agenda while questioning the motivations behind the database directive. “This is a desperate last-ditch effort by a failing president to suppress American votes because his agenda of pardoning pedophiles, embarking on his Iran war and ripping away health care is about to lose him the midterms,” Wyden said earlier this week of Trump’s executive order.