A South Carolina judge has turned down a request to block the state's election agency from sharing sensitive voter information with the federal government.
Circuit Court Judge Daniel Coble on Wednesday denied a temporary injunction on behalf of retired Calhoun County school teacher and voter Anne Crook, who sued to keep the personal information of the state’s more than 3.3 million registered voters from being released to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since July, the DOJ has asked the State Election Commission to release its voter rolls that includes driver's license numbers or the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers.
The effort to obtain state voter records is part of a push by the Trump administration to get a copy of state voter rolls that has led to concerns about what the information will be used for and how it will be stored.
Coble ruled on Wednesday that the State Election Commission is empowered by state law to make those decisions.
The State Election Commission has yet to reach an agreement with the DOJ about how much personal information of the state's voters it will share.
The back-and-forth over the information's release also comes as the State Election Commission voted 3-2 last month to fire the agency's then-director, Howard Knapp.
"From the moment the DOJ submitted its request, the Commission has made clear that protecting the private information of South Carolina voters and complying with the law are its highest priorities," Jenny Wooten, the commission's interim director, said in a statement Wednesday.
"Most of the information requested by the DOJ is already publicly available and may be purchased by any registered voter in South Carolina. In addition, the SEC has previously entered into agreements with other states to share voter data for the purpose of maintaining accurate voter rolls and strengthening election security," she added.
Wooten said any decision by the State Election Commission to share voter data with the DOJ will only be made by a public commission vote, with at least 24 hours public notice before.
"The SEC remains committed to transparency, safeguarding the security of South Carolina’s elections, and preserving the trust of the voters we serve," Wooten said.
Gov. Henry McMaster was allowed to intervene in Crook's suit.
His spokesman, Brandon Charochak, called Coble's decision Wednesday a "victory" that "will help maintain the public's confidence in the security and integrity of our state's voter rolls and elections."
Crook's lawsuit remains pending.
