Ten Democratic state officials have challenged the Trump administration over its extensive efforts to collect voter registration data, expressing serious concerns about potential misuse of this information in citizenship verification programs.

In a letter addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, the secretaries of state demanded clarity on how federal agencies plan to use, share, and secure voter information reportedly being transferred between the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

“Given the unprecedented nature and scope of the DOJ’s requests, we require additional information about how this information will be used, shared, and secured,” the secretaries wrote, highlighting their “immense concern” over the data sharing practices.

When asked for comment, the Justice Department referred to a previous statement from Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, who emphasized that “Clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for free, fair, and transparent elections.” Dhillon added that ensuring public confidence in election integrity remains “a top priority of this administration.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The controversy has intensified as the 2026 midterm elections approach, with the Justice Department requesting detailed voter data from at least 26 states in recent months and filing lawsuits against eight states that have resisted these demands. The department has specifically requested unredacted voter information including names, birth dates, addresses, and identifying numbers such as driver’s licenses or partial Social Security numbers.

Several states have pushed back against these requests, citing their own state privacy laws or claiming the Justice Department has failed to fulfill federal Privacy Act obligations. Even Republican-led states like South Carolina have struggled with how to comply with these extensive demands.

The Democratic secretaries expressed particular concern about inconsistent information provided by federal officials during two recent meetings organized by the National Association of Secretaries of State. According to the letter, a Justice Department official initially stated in August that the agency intended to use voter information to verify states’ compliance with federal voting laws.

However, the following month, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly said it had received voter data and planned to enter it into the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which is used to verify citizenship status. This contradicted earlier statements from a Homeland Security official who had told secretaries of state that the department had neither received nor requested such data.

The SAVE program, operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under DHS, has existed for decades and is widely used by state and local officials to verify citizenship status for individuals applying for public benefits. Earlier this year, DHS and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency updated the program, making it free for election officials and enhancing its capabilities to allow batch processing of thousands of voter records using names, birthdays, and Social Security numbers instead of requiring DHS-issued identification.

Simultaneously, voting rights groups have filed lawsuits against the administration, arguing that these updates to the SAVE program could lead to unlawful purging of eligible voters from registration lists.

The letter from the ten Democratic secretaries—representing Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington—requests answers to several specific questions about data sharing practices, confidentiality measures, and compliance with privacy laws. They have requested a response from the Trump administration by December 1.

As tensions rise over voter data collection and usage, this dispute underscores broader concerns about election administration, privacy, and the federal government’s role in state-managed voter rolls with major elections on the horizon.