ICE seeks access to US-wide voter registration and history data

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is looking for a federal contractor to provide it with access to the country’s voter registration and voter history data, according to newly released procurement records reviewed by 404 Media.

The procurement records say ICE is seeking the data to help detect fraud. But given the administration’s habit of using fraud as a pretense for large immigration enforcement actions, and President Trump’s constant comments about election security in the lead up to the midterms, the planned hiring of a contractor to handle voter data raises questions around what exactly ICE plans to do with the data.

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“The purpose of this acquisition is for the handling and secure delivery of publicly available voter registration files and voter history files to support Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) fraud detection and data segmentation activities,” a section of the procurement records reads . The records are part of a Request for Information, or RFI, which means the government is asking potentially capable contractors to come forward.

The records say the list of jurisdictions ICE wants voter data from is likely to be limited at first, but that the contractor needs to have the capability to get data from all 50 states and other U.S. territories.

Specifically, ICE is seeking “Public voter registration file for each Government-identified jurisdiction,” and “Public voter history file for each Government-specified federal election, when publicly available and separate from the public voter registration file.”

Voter data is public by design and can be obtained in various ways. Some sites collate this data and make it easily searchable .

But handling such a large volume of data in a clean and reliable manner could be a challenge. ICE is looking for a contractor to essentially help streamline that process, by both obtaining the data and handling it for the agency.

The purchase specifically is for HSI, the part of ICE traditionally focused on criminal investigations, including money laundering, cybercrime, and various types of fraud. That does include voter fraud.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) highlighted an HSI case that ended in charges against a Chinese national for alleged fraudulent voter registration and fraudulent voting.

Experts generally agree that voter fraud is exceptionally rare . But constant claims that voter fraud is happening on a wider scale or tangibly impacting elections runs the risk of disenfranchising voters from participating at all.

In July, 404 Media reported ICE was to pay Thomson Reuters $125 million for access to a wealth of personal data to investigate “voter fraud.” Personal data Thomson Reuters holds includes peoples’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, ethnicity, and more.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.