Lee Targets Privacy Loophole with Student Voter Data Protection Act

WASHINGTON - Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Student Voter Data Protection Act, a bill to safeguard the personal data of college students from being exploited for partisan voter registration efforts. This legislation amends the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to explicitly prohibit students' private information from being shared without their consent for voter registration drives. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is an original co-sponsor of the bill.

In recent years, colleges and universities nationwide have participated in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), which compels institutions to hand over students' FERPA-protected data. This data is then passed through the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and shared with third-party voter processing companies. Without student consent, these companies match student information with voter databases, returning lists of voters and non-voters to participating schools.

"College students' personal data should not be handed over to partisan organizations under the guise of civic engagement," said Senator Lee. "These practices violate federal privacy laws, and my bill will close the loopholes that allow institutions to disregard the consent of their students."

The Student Voter Data Protection Act would amend FERPA to ensure that universities cannot share students' personally identifiable information for voter registration activities unless the student gives explicit consent. The legislation responds to ongoing concerns that organizations like Civic Nation, an affiliate of the Obama Foundation, are using this data to target student voters with left-leaning get-out-the-vote efforts.

Key Provisions of the Bill:

• Amends FERPA to explicitly prevent universities from sharing student data without consent for voter registration purposes.

• Ensures that voter registration efforts do not exploit students' private information for partisan gain.

• Protects college students from being targeted based on their voting history or registration status.

• The introduction of the Student Voter Data Protection Act follows concerns that the NSLVE initiative has been used to create a voter profile of students, often without their knowledge or consent, to fuel politically motivated campaigns. By tightening FERPA protections, the Student Voter Data Protection Act seeks to preserve the integrity of student privacy and ensure that educational institutions adhere to federal privacy laws.