Warner Refuses To Hand Over Voter Data To DOJ

Secretary of State Kris Warner says his office has received a second request from the U.S. Department of Justice, seeking unredacted information on hundreds of thousands of registered voters in this state: names, dates of birth, residential addresses, drivers license numbers and the last four digits of social security numbers. 

For the second time, Warner says, he has refused to turn it over.

He recently sat down with Maria Young to discuss the reasons behind that decision.

This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Young: You have made a decision, and you made an announcement, that you will not release protected personal voter information to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). As I’m sure you know, there have been some secretaries of state that have done that. What was behind your decision not to release this information?

Warner: This is the second demand by the DOJ, and they got very specific that they wanted unredacted information. They wanted the voter’s full name, the date of birth, residential address, the driver’s license number, last four digits of the social security number. And, you know, I would be the last person to ever have to call my friend Roger down in Logan County, a coal miner down there, and tell him that I’ve released his date of birth, or Sam in Barbour County, and tell her that, you know, I turned over her address and cell phone number, or Vi in Upshur County, and tell him that I turned over a social security number to the DOJ. Just not gonna happen because, mainly because, West Virginia law says we’re not going to share personal information. 

If the DOJ wants the list, they can purchase it like anyone else, but it’s not going to have personal information on it. And I guess the best analogy I could probably pass on is, when was the last time a police officer enforced the law by pulling someone over for following the speed limit? That hasn’t happened. Law enforcement enforces the law against people that are breaking it, and we’re not breaking the law. We’re doing our job, and we’re doing it well, I’d venture to guess maybe better than any other state in the country. 

We have removed 408,000 voter registrations in the last nine years. I think we’ve done 64,000 just since I took office just over a year ago. You put it all together, we have over 750,000 voter records out of 1.1 million total registered voters on our statewide list, and those have been confirmed and up to date and accurate in that same time period that we’re talking about. So we’re doing it. We’re doing it well. 

Our 55 county clerks have taken on a Herculean effort to make that happen, and this is an area where the federal government can’t do it any better than we’re doing. I understand where maybe President Trump, what he’s trying to do and making sure that we have safe, secure, fair and honest elections. But the Constitution leaves this up to us in the states, to the time, manner and place of our elections.

Young: I think it’s fair to say that there has been a perception that some Republicans in particular, but maybe just in general, Secretaries of State and other entities have been reluctant to stand up to this administration. I’m wondering if you had any misgivings about taking a stance that might be seen as opposing the federal government.

Warner: Number one, I was appointed by the first Trump administration to serve in that administration, and did so as the State Director for USDA Rural Development. You probably know my older brother Mac, works at the DOJ. And again, that’s not a factor. It’s not what I want to do personally. It’s what the law says. And I’m here to carry out the West Virginia law. And you know, the U.S. Constitution, again, makes it very clear that the time, manner and place of elections is left to the states, and I’m going to follow state law. My first and foremost duty is to the citizens of West Virginia. 

Young: Sounds like you feel very strongly about this?

Warner: I do. You know the bottom of our state seal, Montani semper liberi, “Mountaineers are always free.” All of our personal information should be protected.