SLC Times

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced the Student Voter Data Protection Act, a bill aimed at protecting the personal data of college students from being used in partisan voter registration efforts. The legislation seeks to amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to prevent students' private information from being shared without their consent for such activities. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is an original co-sponsor of the bill.

In recent years, colleges and universities across the country have participated in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). This initiative requires institutions to provide students' FERPA-protected data, which is then processed by the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and shared with third-party voter processing companies. These companies match student information with voter databases and return lists of voters and non-voters to participating schools, often without student consent.

"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 proposed act would amend FERPA to ensure that universities cannot share students' personally identifiable information for voter registration activities unless explicit consent is given by the student. The legislation addresses 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 include:

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

- Ensuring that voter registration efforts do not exploit students' private information for partisan gain.

- Protecting college students from being targeted based on their voting history or registration status.

The introduction of this act follows worries that the NSLVE initiative has been used to create a voter profile of students without their knowledge or consent, fueling politically motivated campaigns. By tightening FERPA protections, the Student Voter Data Protection Act aims to preserve student privacy and ensure educational institutions comply with federal privacy laws.

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