Warner & Kaine Statement on Report That DHS Personnel Were Told to Lie to Illegally Access Virginians’ Personal Information

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement regarding a report that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees were instructed to lie in order to unlawfully obtain Virginians’ personal information, by falsely attesting that they were specific Virginians verifying their voter registration records: “As much as President Trump and his cronies insist otherwise, working for the federal government doesn’t mean you can break the law. The Virginia Department of Elections is clear: lying about one’s identity in order to access Virginians’ personal information is illegal, and any DHS officials who violated that code should be held accountable. Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that a President who is thin-skinned enough to incite a deadly riot to overturn a free and fair election he lost would lead an Administration that commits crimes in order to look for virtually non-existent voter fraud. We will continue to do all that we can to ensure citizens are not wrongfully purged from voting rolls and to protect Virginians’ personal information and the security of our elections from this deranged Administration.” Virginians are able to check their registration status online, but must certify and affirm that they are checking their own registration in order to do so. Per the Virginia elections webpage, searchers are specifically asked to acknowledge that it is unlawful to access the record of any other voter, punishable as computer fraud under Va. Code § 18.2-152.3. ###