91.7 WVXU News Poltical Analysis - Frank LaRose turned over private info on 8 million Ohio voters to Trump DOJ
Frank LaRose, Ohio's Secretary of State and chief elections officer, voluntarily turned over to the Trump administration the private information of 8 million Ohio voters in February, including driver’s license info, partial Social Security numbers. Since then, though, dozens of states have either refused to give the Justice Department what it wants or limited the information to that which is publicly available.
State Rep. Allison Russo, now a Democratic candidate running to follow LaRose into the secretary of state office, has been outspoken about that decision. “When Ohioans are required to provide private personal information to participate in our democracy, they deserve absolute confidence that their data will be protected,” the Upper Arlington Democrat said in a campaign news release. “I have grave concerns about how this information could be used or manipulated in ways that undermine the will of American voters.”
The non-profit Brennan Center for Justice has been closely monitoring the Trump administration’s effort to obtain voter information from the states. “These demands by the Trump administration are unprecedented and a clear encroachment on states’ power to run elections as outlined in the Constitution,” a Brennan Center report concluded. “The effort is part of the administration’s concerted campaign to interfere with future elections.”
According to the Brennan Center, at least 49 states and the District of Columbia have received requests for voter lists from the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ). Most of them have submitted publicly available lists — sans driver’s license numbers and Social Security info — or have not responded at all.
Kentucky is one of those states not responding. But. Ohio is one of 12 states that willingly turned over everything it has, including private information on voters. LaRose, the term-limited Ohio Secretary of State, now a candidate for Ohio Auditor, gave Trump’s DOJ exactly what it wanted.
Exerpted from Howard Wilkinson's column, "Politically Speaking" WVXU News, March 25, 2026. Wilkinson is a Senior Political Analyst.
