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A conservative group headed by a 2020 presidential election denier will get access to an unredacted list of Illinois voters and their personal information, such as mail and email addresses and telephone numbers, under a federal court settlement with the State Board of Elections.
The settlement includes a confidentiality order aimed at preventing dissemination of voters’ personal information beyond the Illinois Conservative Union. The settlement, filed Tuesday, dismisses a case brought on behalf of the Conservative Union by the right-wing group Judicial Watch.
The Conservative Union and its founder, Carol Davis, a former tea party activist from Carol Stream, had filed a federal challenge to the state election board’s limitations that provided complete voter data only to political committees and governmental entities. Under a previous judicial ruling, individual voter data that greatly redacted personal information had been available to the public.
Now, after paying an existing fee that had been charged to political and governmental entities, the Conservative Union can acquire a complete list of the state’s 8.1 million registered voters along with age, address, phone number and county and state voter ID number, except for individuals covered by special federal or state confidentiality laws.
In 2022, Davis and her Illinois Conservative Union were part of “election integrity” efforts mounted by the Illinois Republican Party and its unsuccessful candidate for governor, Darren Bailey. She has been a leader in a national network of 2020 election deniers along with top former aides to former President Donald Trump.
Davis has contended “there is fraud in every election in this country.” She demonstrated a belief that left-wing, anti-fascist or antifa groups, rather than Trump supporters, were behind the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. She also expressed disappointment that a cold kept her away from that day’s “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington.
Davis endorsed Trump’s legal challenges to the election outcome, even though more than 60 of them were ultimately dismissed. Among those she has worked with is Cleta Mitchell, a Trump attorney who espoused debunked legal theories to try to challenge the election.
Davis has long questioned the accuracy of Illinois’ voter rolls and contended without proof that they are bloated and, in some cases, include more registered voters than there are residents of the election jurisdiction. Judicial Watch, which took up her case, has challenged the accuracy of voter rolls in other states.
Due to concerns over wider dissemination of the personal data, the settlement with the Illinois Conservative Union allows the group to get the unredacted voter lists only through the end of 2026. The group has 60 days after that date to destroy the voter lists and personal information it obtained.
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