You register to vote. You want cheaper healthcare, affordable housing, or a government that gives a damn about your paycheck.
Then you find out ICE has collected tens of millions of voter records.
Why the hell does an agency that detains and deports people need that much information about voters?
That question deserves an answer. “Election integrity” is a slogan. It does not explain why an immigration agency is collecting huge voter datasets, investigating registration groups, and discussing undercover operations against them.
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Millions of records. What exactly are they looking for?
Internal documents obtained by Democracy Forward through an information-disclosure lawsuit describe the operation.
ICE’s investigative branch received approximately 50.6 million voter records from the Justice Department. Another 48.4 million came from outside sources associated with Heather Honey, an administration official who promoted false claims about the 2020 election. The datasets may overlap.
Those numbers tell you how much information the agency collected. They tell you nothing about how many people broke the law.
ICE also reviewed at least 82 Pennsylvania nonprofits and examined dozens of organizations in New Jersey. One New Jersey review found no derogatory information on the groups examined.
Investigators discussed sending undercover agents into organizations suspected of facilitating unlawful registration. The records describe plans; they do not establish that those deployments happened.
Look at the reach: enormous voter datasets, community organizations, and proposed secret investigations. The administration owes the public evidence that justifies that reach.
Peter Thiel’s company enters the picture
Palantir, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, built a tool called ELITE for ICE. It helps agents identify and locate people targeted for immigration enforcement on a map.
A July internal report said voter information from six states was awaiting entry into ELITE by Palantir. The import remains unconfirmed, and a source familiar with the matter told Democracy Docket that the information was not integrated.
The plan itself is outrageous. Why consider putting voter information into software built to locate immigration enforcement targets?
Registering to vote should not turn a citizen’s information into raw material for an expanding immigration investigation.
And Thiel deserves a place in this story. In 2009, he wrote: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
A billionaire openly questions democracy. The company he co-founded builds tools for a government collecting millions of voter records.
Apparently, his discomfort with democracy poses no difficulty when the government needs software.
The responsibility belongs to both sides of that relationship: officials who decide how to use state power, and the private company supplying the tools. The public deserves to know who handles the data and who answers when something goes wrong.
Elections start before the ballot box
People hear “election interference” and picture somebody changing votes.
Political participation also depends on whether people can register, organize, and get help without fear.
That is why investigations into voter-registration groups matter. These organizations help people navigate forms and deadlines. For somebody working long shifts, raising children, or struggling with paperwork, that help can make participation possible.
A government investigation can mean legal bills, staff time, and worried volunteers. If organizations must spend scarce resources defending themselves, they have less available for the people they serve.
When volunteers wonder whether helping somebody register will attract federal scrutiny, the government has introduced fear into ordinary civic work.
An investigation can apply pressure long before a courtroom reaches a verdict.
And that pressure lands differently across class lines. A billionaire has lawyers on call. A small nonprofit has a budget to stretch. A worker has a shift to get back to.
Rights become harder to exercise when using them costs money and time ordinary people cannot spare.
The slow roll into authoritarianism
This is how a government can move toward authoritarianism while elections remain on the calendar.
It expands the information it collects. It broadens the organizations it investigates. It considers more intrusive tactics. Each expansion arrives with a reassuring label: security, integrity, protection.
Meanwhile, the people in power gain more ability to scrutinize the people participating in politics.
The Trump administration has a direct political stake in these elections. Its use of enforcement power around political participation deserves particularly tough scrutiny.
“Protecting elections” cannot be a blank check for the incumbent government to widen its reach.
And the administration’s incompetence offers no comfort. A ridiculous politician still commands agencies with investigators, databases, and the power to turn a person’s life upside down.
You can laugh at the performance and still recognize the danger.
Make them answer
Why were these records collected? Who can use them? What information gets added? How are mistakes corrected? What happens to an organization’s information when investigators find nothing?
Trump’s administration should answer those questions. Palantir should explain its role.
Good questions. Our government is screwing our people in broad daylight and on an ongoing basis. Where are all those folks with guns that they needed in case the government overstepped its authority?