Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is violating multiple federal laws–not to mention the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution–by refusing to turn over data to the federal government needed to pursue criminal fraud investigations. As the Trump administration ramps up efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in massive entitlement programs and safeguard election integrity, the Evers Administration is standing firmly with the fraudsters by refusing to turn over critical data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients and statewide voter rolls.
This isn’t principled resistance; it’s obstruction that shields criminals from accountability for stealing from Evers’ own consitituents–the ones he swore an oath to protect. Evers, though, is ignoring the rights of taxpayers in favor of protecting those who are actively victimizing them.
His Administration claims this sort of fraud is a right-wing myth, that voter fraud especially is practically nonexistent. Okay, then let’s prove it. Allow federal authorities to make sure that only lawful voters are eligible to cast ballots. Allow investigators to double check SNAP rolls to prevent fraudulent payments, which are currently costing taxpayers across the nation hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Under the Food and Nutrition Act, states must maintain records necessary for program compliance and make them available for inspection and audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All records and the information systems containing them must be turned over to the Secretary upon request, subject to reasonable security protocols.
This isn’t optional. It’s a condition of participating in a federally funded program.
The USDA’s Inspector General and DOJ have pursued this data precisely to combat overpayments and fraud, and Evers’ claims that doing so violates beneficiaries’ privacy rights are also rebutted by federal law. 7 U.S.C. § 2020(e)(8) limits disclosure to program administration and enforcement, meaning that providing data to federal investigators does not constitute a violation of privacy rights. In fact, the law takes great pains to shield sensitive data from unnecessary disclosure.
The same principle applies to voter rolls. Federal statutes require states to maintain accurate lists and provide access for oversight. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 mandates that state and local election administrators preserve records for 22 months and requires them to deliver them to the Attorney General upon written demand for a stated purpose; in this case, investigating potential violations and ensuring compliance with list maintenance. The National Voter Registration Act and Help America Vote Act further obligate states to keep clean rolls and enable federal enforcement.
Federal requests for statewide lists, including basic identifiers like names, addresses and dates of birth, are perefectly reasonable under with these laws to cross-check eligibility and detect irregularities, such as non-citizen voting or duplicates. Again, Evers’ refusal to comply with federal law is not centered upon privacy protecton; it’s obstructing the proper oversight and investigative authority of the federal government.
That represents a clear violation of the Supremacy Clause. States do not have the ability to block federal action by citing state law. Federal law, and investigations conducted the color of that law, trump state law. When there is a conflict, federal law triumphs.
It does here. Eventually, an honest judicial review of the facts of the multistate lawsuits Evers and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul have joined will toss them out on Supremacy Clause grounds. Right now, left-wing judges looking to protect left-wing states from the Trump Administration discovering just how much welfare and vote fraud they are covering up by issuing injunctions designed to slow down the investigations as long as possible.
The law, however, could not possibly be clearer: Wisconsin has to turn over its SNAP data and allow examination of its voter rolls. The only question that remains is just what the Evers Administration is trying to hide
