Story perspectives

ICE Contract Could Get $5M Voter Data, Privacy Suit Filed

9/4/2026

Summary

Story summary

ICE will award a firm-fixed-price contract up to $5 million for voter data.
The contract will support Homeland Security Investigations fraud-detection and data-segmentation efforts.
ICE will require voter registration and history files from all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories.
The draft permits ICE to request party-affiliation data despite an initial limitation.
Privacy groups and EPIC filed a lawsuit claiming the program violates the Privacy Act and voter rights.

History

Historical Context

Congress passed the Privacy Act of 1974—championed by Senator Sam Ervin and backed by President Nixon after Watergate—to curb federal data collection. An OMB audit in 1995 uncovered $1.2 billion of personal records still held by agencies such as the Department of Justice. Now ICE seeks a $5 million contract for voter files, prompting EPIC and other privacy groups to sue under that same law.

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Story summary

ICE will award a firm-fixed-price contract up to $5 million for voter data.
The contract will support Homeland Security Investigations fraud-detection and data-segmentation efforts.
ICE will require voter registration and history files from all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories.
The draft permits ICE to request party-affiliation data despite an initial limitation.
Privacy groups and EPIC filed a lawsuit claiming the program violates the Privacy Act and voter rights.

1 / 2