1. United States
2. Mont.
3. Letter

I am writing to express serious concern about Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen's decision to provide confidential Montana voter data to the U.S. Department of Justice. This represents a troubling violation of privacy protections that should concern every Montanan regardless of political affiliation. According to emails obtained through public records requests, Jacobsen's office confirmed on December 9, 2025, that it had "fully satisfied" the DOJ's August 14, 2025, request for voter data containing full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Social Security numbers are classified as personally identifiable information and protected as confidential under the federal Privacy Act of 1974. This sensitive information was shared without legislative oversight or public notification. The DOJ subsequently demanded that Montana sign a memorandum of understanding requiring the state to change voter rolls as directed by federal officials and resubmit revised rolls within 45 days. The agreement also permits DOJ to share Montana voter information with private contractors. Security protocols described by the Brennan Center for Justice are "extremely basic two-step authentication of the sort necessary to shop online." This is wholly inadequate protection for data that includes partial Social Security numbers. Legislators who regularly interact with the secretary of state on election matters, including State Administration and Veterans' Affairs Interim Committee Chair Sen. Theresa Manzella and Vice Chair Rep. Marc Lee, told Montana Free Press they knew nothing about this data sharing. This lack of transparency is unacceptable when Montanans' private information is at stake. I urge you to demand full accountability from the secretary of state's office regarding what voter data was shared, introduce legislation requiring legislative approval before any confidential voter information is provided to federal agencies, and establish stronger protections for Montana voter privacy that prevent future unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal information.