It is in the U.S. Constitution: States decide how federal elections are run, not the executive branch.

Yet over the last year, the Trump administration has sought to exert more control. In March, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order requiring documented proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The order has since been blocked in court. In August, Trump declared on his social media platform that he wants to ban mail-in voting and voting machines. (He has issued no such executive orders to that effect.)

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has asked at least 46 states for their voter rolls, including lists with sensitive identifying information like Social Security numbers and driver’s license information. The goal: to create a national database.

Last week, Trump raised the stakes again, saying he wanted to nationalize elections.

“We should take over the voting,” he said on a conservative podcast.

Trump has long said he believes there is widespread voter fraud across the country and does not trust some states to handle elections fairly. His unfounded claims about stolen elections led the FBI to seize hundreds of boxes of Georgia ballots from the 2020 election last month.

Where does Florida stand in all of this? Here’s what voters should know.

Florida gave public voter rolls to the Department of Justice.

In July, Florida gave the Department of Justice information from its statewide voter registration list that is generally available to the public, according to The Washington Post and the Brennan Center for Justice, a national legal advocacy group. Public voter files include names, addresses, birth dates, party affiliation, phone numbers and email addresses.

The state keeps records of all Florida voters in accordance with the 1993 federal Voter Registration Act, which requires states to implement processes to “maintain accurate and current voter registration lists.”

All states do this differently. In Florida, each of the state’s 67 county elections supervisors registers voters and secures voter registration information in their jurisdiction. Elections supervisors are independently elected but must follow state laws outlining how voter information is maintained and elections are administered.

A spokeswoman with Florida’s Department of State, the agency that manages elections statewide, did not provide information about whether the state has handed over any additional identifying voter information or if the U.S. Department of Justice has asked for it.

State law bans confidential information sharing with the federal government.

Florida may share confidential voter information if it joins a nongovernmental organization where all the members also agree to keep voter information confidential.

But such an organization “may not be operated or controlled by the Federal Government or any other entity acting on behalf of the Federal Government,” according to Chapter 98 of state statutes, which governs voter registration.

The Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, is an example of a nongovernmental organization where states share voter information. Florida was a part of the group, which is a consortium of states that work together to compare and improve the accuracy of lists to detect or prevent illegal voting, including flagging people who may be registered to vote in two states.

But Florida dropped out in March 2023, saying at the time that it was doing so because it thought the group was too partisan and had security issues.

Today, Florida has agreements with several other Southern states who also left the Electronic Registration Information Center to share publicly available voter information.

Tampa Bay election offices are hearing concerns.

Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said he’s heard from dozens of residents concerned about what a national takeover of Florida’s elections could mean for the security of their data.

“Election security (in all facets) has been a priority for many years and this focus continues,” he said in an email. “The voters should take comfort in knowing our elections are safe and secure.”

The Constitution remains a safeguard for elections, which are decentralized on purpose across more than 9,000 jurisdictions nationwide, he said.

“It’s quite clear (by design) that the Executive Branch cannot set election policy via Executive Orders,” he said.

Voters regularly ask how their personal information is protected, said Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus.

“Florida’s voter rolls are public record under state law,” Supervisor Marcus said. “That means anyone can request information like your name, address, date of birth, phone number, email, and which elections you’ve voted in. What’s not shared are the sensitive details — things like your Social Security number, driver’s license, and your signature. Those are protected by law.”

Hillsborough County’s Supervisor of Elections Office has received no requests from the federal government for confidential voter data, said spokesperson Gerri Kramer. But Kramer said the office has heard from a few concerned residents.

A national voter database likely violates federal law.

The federal Privacy Act of 1974 limits the private information from citizens that the federal government can collect and requires certain disclosures.

Under the law, agencies, including the Department of Justice, must give the public notice of any information they collect on citizens. Agencies must disclose such information gathering in the Federal Register, a U.S. government journal that publishes public notices, or, in some cases, notify Congress.

The Justice Department has done none of that, said two legal experts who have been tracking the agency’s efforts.

“Collecting data without putting out that notice is a federal crime,” said Justin Levitt, an election law expert at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a former Department of Justice employee. “It’s shocking to me that DOJ still hasn’t complied with this pretty straightforward transparency requirement before attempting to vacuum up hundreds of millions of Americans’ records.”

Voter data could go to a third-party contractor.

According to the memo the Trump administration is requiring states to sign, confidential voter information could be used for litigation and shared with a private contractor that the government would enlist to help verify and maintain the database for the Department of Justice.

The memo outlines no security requirements or measures required of any contractor.

That raises significant security questions, said Eileen O’Connor, an attorney who researches voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice and who is also a former Department of Justice employee.

The agreement also lacks any encryption requirement for the data and does not require any audit log analysis for either the agency or a contractor, she said.

O’Connor said she believes the Trump administration’s overarching goal in collecting the voter data is to lay the groundwork to claim fraud, paving the way for a federal takeover of elections.

“They will say, ‘Oh we have all these voter rolls and there are all sorts of people on there who shouldn’t be,’” she said.

But because the federal government does not constitutionally have a role in elections, the Department of Justice does not have the expertise or capacity to effectively or efficiently vet voting lists, she said.

Florida voters can check the accuracy of their data.

Citizens who are concerned about their personal information should educate themselves about their county’s policies and Florida law governing voter rolls, O’Connor said.

All states have procedures to ensure only eligible citizens get registered to vote and to make sure voter rolls are maintained constantly, she said. She said states have thorough processes with several layers of checks to ensure only eligible voters are registered and those who are ineligible are removed.

In Florida, elections supervisors perform list maintenance year-round, not just when an election is near. In recent decades, the state has added other security and transparency measures.

Florida counties are required to post daily reports on all the voting that takes place before Election Day, including lists of mail-in ballots that have been requested, mailed out and received back, and all in-person early voters.

Security measures include a mandatory post-election audit, verifying voter identities across multiple state agencies and standardizing voting equipment.

“It has a well-deserved reputation for the fierce independence of its local supervisors,” Levitt said.

Still, it is good practice for voters to check the rolls in their county to make sure they’re on the list and registered in the right place, he said.

“Set a calendar note around 80 days before the election,” Levitt said. Residents can call their local elections office or check their registration online at the state’s Voter Information Lookup page.

Some voters may also be eligible for a public records exemption that prevents their address and date of birth from being disclosed. Voters can learn more about that process on the state’s Division of Elections website.

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