DOJ Issues Requests For Documents to ERIC and Zuckerbuck-Funded CEIR Over Sharing of Private Voter Data

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Last month, The Gateway Pundit reported that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche urging him to renew calls for investigations into barcode/QR code voting systems and the Election Registration Information Center (ERIC) and its handling of sensitive motor-vehicle data.DHS officials had previously met with the DOJ under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi in September 2025 regarding these concerns.  DHS’s previous concerns did not seem to produce any sort of resolution, legal determination, or any meaningful action.Now, under recently confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Department of Justice has sent two letters requesting information related to the DHS concerns— one to ERIC and one to the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR).The DHS letter outlines concerns that ERIC may have violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) by providing drivers’ private data to the CEIR.  CEIR and ERIC both claim that this is a “permissible use” outlined in the DPPA and that the data was used for research.The DOJ letter to ERIC states:ERIC has maintained that its use of DPPA-protected personal information falls under a statutory permissible use.  But courts have construed exceptions to the DPPA’s protections narrowly, and the membership agreement’s vague references to “research projects” and “responding to requests for information from third parties” do not appear to be tethered to the DPPA’s limited permissible uses.  Even apart from the issue of disclosure to third parties, the scope of ERIC’s own use of DPPA-protected personal information remains unclear.  Although using such information for furtherance of government functions may be a permitted use, using protected information for certain partisan purposes is not a government function and is thus not permitted under the DPPA — regardless of whether a state consents.From ERIC, the DOJ is seeking:A list, in a sortable and searchable format, of all persons and organizations with whom ERIC has shared information obtained by a state department of motor vehicles, including the specific purpose for which the information was shared and all resulting uses of the information, the State whose information was shared, and the date the information was sharedAll records regarding ERIC’s sharing or disclosure of information obtained by a state department of motor vehiclesA detailed, narrative explanation describing the activities that constitute ERIC’s “services to its Members,” as set forth in the membership agreementA sortable and searchable list describing all “research projects” that ERIC has undertaken under the membership agreementsAll correspondence (e.g., letters, emails) with third parties concerning information obtained by a state department of motor vehiclesA similar letter was also sent to CEIR that focused more narrowly on the interactions between CEIR and ERIC.  It asked for the following:A searchable and sortable list detailing all instances of ERIC sharing information obtained by a state department of motor vehicles with CEIR, including the specific purpose for sharing the information and all resulting uses of the information.All correspondences between CEIR and ERICAll documents related to CEIR’s possession of information obtained by a state department of motor vehiclesAll correspondence between CEIR and any state official regarding information obtained by a state department of motor vehiclesThe Gateway Pundit first reported on this controversial relationship and the disbursement of funding in February 2022.Lupo: The Voter Rolls Are the Key/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i