Politics
ICE prepares contract to compile national voter database
The agency plans to spend up to $5 million on publicly available state voting and registration records to aid fraud investigations.
The short version
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing a contract worth $2 million to $5 million to assemble public voter registration and history records across all 50 states.
- The data is intended to assist Homeland Security Investigations with fraud detection and data segmentation ahead of midterm elections.
- Contract terms do not initially require collecting party affiliation, though that could change under written directive from the contracting officer.
- The initiative faces pushback from state officials who argue that election administration is a state rather than federal responsibility.
Key facts
- ICE published an acquisition forecast indicating plans to award a contract valued between $2 million and $5 million to compile public voter registration and election history files.[Wired]
- The contract is designed to support fraud detection and data segmentation activities for Homeland Security Investigations, requiring a contractor capable of gathering data from all 50 states.[Wired]
- Contract documents state the vendor will not initially be asked to collect party affiliation fields unless explicitly directed in writing by the contracting officer.[Wired]
- Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers criticized federal election integrity efforts, stating that voting oversight is a state matter rather than a federal one.[Wired]
What remains uncertain
- It remains unknown which company will be awarded the contract and whether the contracting officer will later direct the vendor to collect party affiliation data.[Wired]