HELENA — Montana’s top election official is pushing back publicly against reports about how her office may be cooperating with the Trump administration as it seeks to review voters’ eligibility.
Last week, the Montana Free Press published an article stating that Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office had complied with a federal request for additional voter data. However, Jacobsen’s office called the piece “recklessly false” and demanded a retraction.
(Watch the video for more on the article and Jacobsen's reaction.)
The MTFP article highlighted emails between the Secretary of State’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice, which were released in response to a public records request.
The Trump administration has asked states to share their voter rolls so that federal authorities can review them and identify registered voters they believe may be ineligible. Jacobsen has said she’s in alignment with that goal, and her office sent out postcards to people across the state saying she would partner with the Trump administration to step up efforts to check voters’ citizenship.
The MTFP article points to one message from Aug. 14, in which federal authorities said Jacobsen’s office had released Montana’s public voter file to them. However, they asked the Secretary to share a “complete and current” voter list, with additional information including voters’ full dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
The article links to a Dec. 9 email, in which the Secretary of State’s office said “Montana fully satisfied the August 14th request thereafter.” However, in a Dec. 18 reply to that email, DOJ representatives again asked “where does Montana stand” on providing a full unredacted voter list.
Finally, the article pointed to a Dec. 29 letter from Jacobsen, in which she said she was sending another copy of the public statewide voting list, with additional information in response to DOJ’s request. She said the state was monitoring multiple lawsuits across the country regarding access to voter files.
In the letter, Jacobsen said her office has been aggressive about maintaining the state’s voter rolls and would review any potentially ineligible voters the federal government reported to her, but that she would not agree to a memorandum of understanding with the DOJ that called for states to commit to removing all flagged voters.
The MTFP article was published Wednesday, and it drew immediate criticism from Jacobsen. In a Facebook post that evening, her office said the piece was a “blatant lie, beginning from the opening sentence.”
The next day, they posted a video response from Jacobsen. In it, she said election officials have been responding to “misinformation” that the state had turned over voter data that included how people voted and their political affiliation – information that is not included in the state voter file. She said MTFP’s article had added to the confusion.
“I want to be very clear: Montana values your privacy,” Jacobsen said in the video. “Montana election officials protect your secret ballot, how you voted and who you voted for, and Montana has not released an unredacted version of the Montana voter file.”
After being contacted by the Secretary of State’s office, the Free Press updated its article to include some clarifying information. However, editors said the Secretary still had not made clear what they meant when they said they had “fully satisfied” the federal request.
MTN reached out to Jacobsen’s office to ask for additional details on what they considered misinformation on this issue. A spokesperson pointed back to Jacobsen’s social media video.
