1. United States
2. La.
3. Letter

I am a Louisiana voter and constituent writing to strongly oppose HB 691. I find it deeply alarming that Louisiana voters’ personal registration data appears to have already been submitted to the Department of Homeland Security without clear notice, meaningful public disclosure, or informed awareness from the voters themselves. As one of those voters, I was never made aware that my personal information could be used in this way. Even if state officials claim this was legally permissible, the lack of transparency is unacceptable. Voters reasonably expect that their registration information is used for election administration—not quietly routed into a federal homeland security database. If the state intends to use voter data in this way, voters deserve clear, upfront disclosure. Anything less undermines public trust. HB 691 would not correct this problem—it would formalize and expand it. The bill would require ongoing, large-scale submission of voter data to a federal system that was not designed for voter roll verification and is known to produce outdated records and false positives. This creates a real risk that eligible voters could be wrongly flagged or burdened. The justification for this level of data sharing is also deeply disproportionate. The issue being cited—non-citizen voting—represents an extremely small fraction of cases relative to the total number of registered voters. Expanding surveillance of millions of voters in response to such a minimal issue is not a balanced or responsible approach. Beyond the immediate concerns, this proposal reflects a broader historical pattern that should not be ignored. Governments do not typically erode participation in a single step. It often begins with administrative systems—classification, verification, and data matching—that determine who is considered eligible or “validated.” These systems may be introduced under the language of security or integrity, but over time they can be expanded, misused, or relied upon in ways that restrict lawful participation. The concern here is not hypothetical. Systems that rely on large-scale data matching are inherently imperfect, and when applied to something as fundamental as voting, even small error rates can have serious consequences. Once established, these systems are rarely scaled back—they tend to grow. Louisiana should be strengthening voter confidence, not creating systems that risk misidentifying citizens, exposing personal data, or making participation more fragile. I urge you to vote NO on HB 691 and reject any policy that expands undisclosed mass data sharing, risks wrongful voter challenges, and undermines trust in our elections.