Local election officials across the political spectrum are holding back voter data and other security information from the U.S. Department Of Homeland Security, saying they no longer trust the federal government with material that could be turned against them. Matt Crane said he is actively discouraging counties from doing work with the government right now.
The shift matters now because it comes ahead of the 2024 election, after the Trump administration took unprecedented steps to investigate local election administration. Those steps included suing states for private voter registration data and trying to access voting machines and ballots, moves that left local officials asking whether a department that is supposed to help secure elections can still be trusted as a partner.
Crane, who leads that pushback, said the concern is not abstract. “I don't trust how the administration is using that data. I don't trust that they're going to keep it confidential. And so I can't in good conscience advocate that any of my counties do any work with them right now,” he said. He added, “I'm actively discouraging it.”
That distrust reaches beyond one office or one party. Local officials said they are withholding voter and security information because they fear it could be used against them in some way, a sign that the rift is spreading through election administration itself. The dispute is not just about whether DHS can protect systems; it is about whether it can be asked to see them.
The backdrop is a broader collapse in confidence that has been building since the 2020 U.S. election. Gary Berntsen, who said he is convinced Venezuela stole that election, was later part of a Mar-a-Lago meeting arranged by Markwayne Mullin so Donald Trump’s team could hear claims about Venezuelan interference. Mullin wrote on Jan. 2, 2021, that due to all of the fraud and uncertainty surrounding the 2020 election there was no way he could vote to certify the Electoral College, then joined 147 congressional Republicans who voted against certification after the U.S. Capitol was overrun on Jan. 6, 2021.
later reached a $787 million settlement with Dominion in 2023, and Heather Honey has long been linked to spreading election misinformation. Crane said those currents now shape how counties judge federal overtures. “All of this points to the fact that these are not trusted partners anymore,” he said. “They've brought the fox into the henhouse.” The remaining question is not whether local officials are wary; they already are. It is how much voter and security information will stay locked away before the election and whether the federal government can win back enough trust to get it.
