Should Orange County give the federal government its voter data?

A partisan battle is heating up in Orange County over whether the Registrar of Voters should release sensitive voter data to the U.S. Department of Justice.

At issue is to what extent non-citizens are voting in U.S. elections — and what rights the federal government has to the private information contained in state and county voter rolls.

The Justice Department sued Orange County Registrar Bob Page earlier this year after he refused to hand over, without a warrant, the full records of 17 people that Page had previously removed from voter rolls because they weren’t citizens. Their registration was canceled either because they self-reported being a noncitizen or because the Orange County District Attorney’s Office determined the person was ineligible to vote.

Page confirmed Wednesday that eight of those registrants voted in an election before their registration was canceled.

This week, the two Republicans on the Orange County Board of Supervisors sought to direct Page to give the Justice Department what it wants.

"If Orange County has nothing to hide," Supervisor Don Wagner wrote in a news release, "it should not litigate this case like it has something to hide."

But he and fellow Republican Janet Nguyen failed to get support from their three Democratic colleagues, including board Chair Doug Chaffee.

“I don’t know how we can give confidential information out without [the individuals’] consent,” Chaffee said.

The Orange County Registrar and the county’s top lawyer, Leon Page, have said they can’t share protected information like driver’s license and Social Security numbers without a warrant or a confidentiality agreement. That would violate state election law, Leon Page said.

He added that the county has offered to negotiate a confidentiality agreement with the federal government, but has not received a response.

The battle comes as the Justice Department has asked for voting records from a growing list of states, including California.

A court hearing in the dispute over Orange County’s compliance with the Justice Department’s request is now scheduled for Sept. 15.