Lawmakers Want Answers On What Happened To Montana Voters’ Information
Montana Lawmakers Demand Answers About Voter Information
With the 2026 election coming up in just a few months, Montana lawmakers want to know exactly what happened to your voter information.
On Wednesday, a legislative committee voted 10-1 to subpoena Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen over information her office provided to the federal government. The issue goes back to a 2025 request from the U.S. Department of Justice for an unredacted Montana voter file.
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What Voter Information Did Montana Actually Give The DOJ?
According to the Montana Free Press, that request included some pretty sensitive information, including voters' birth dates, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
Jacobsen's office says it did not provide the DOJ with your driver's license numbers, but it did provide your last four digits of your Social Security number. And that's where lawmakers have a problem.
The committee says they've been trying to get a clear picture of what information was handed over and, more importantly, why. But members say they haven't gotten the answers they're looking for from Jacobsen's office, so now they're using a subpoena to get those answers.
Why Did The Federal Government Want Montana's Voter Information?
The subpoena is intended to force the Secretary of State's office to provide records and information related to the federal request so lawmakers can figure out exactly what was shared and how the decision was made.
The federal government has said it wanted the voter information to help identify people who aren't legally eligible to vote, along with people who have died.
But the request has also sparked legal battles in other parts of the country over whether the federal government has the authority to demand complete state voter databases.
So for Montana voters, the big question lawmakers are asking right now is pretty simple: What information was actually sent to the federal government?
They say the answers they've received so far aren't good enough.
