The Palm Beach County Office of the Supervisor of Elections removed President Donald Trump’s personal information from public voter registration records, after Trumpcited a new state privacy law that does not apply to him as the president.
The office said it approved Trump’srequest earlier this year but never checked the legality of it. The move shields from disclosure Trump’s home and mailing addresses, birth date, party affiliation and email address. The change separately makes it harder to identify when Trump votes by mail versus in person.
The president’s request has not been previously reported.
Trump signed the request and attested on the notarized document that he was eligible to make his voter information private as a current member of
Congress or state public officer under the new law. Chamberlain Harris, a longtime aide who Trump promoted last year to deputy director of Oval Office operations, notarized the form.
Elected officers protected under the law doesn't include the president
Besides members of Congress, the list of elected officers protected under the law includes only the governor, lieutenant governor, chief financial officer, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, state representative, state senator, property appraiser, supervisor of elections, school superintendent, school board member, mayor, city commissioner or county commissioner.
The bill allows certain individuals to request their information not be made public. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it last year. The bill and its accompanying legislative analysis does not mention the word “president.” Lawmakers can’t amend the law to include Trump until they meet again in Tallahassee starting in March.
Trump specified that what qualified him for secrecy was being the “47th president of the United States.”
One of the authors of the law, Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, said in an interview that the Legislature forgot to add the U.S. president as one of the elected offices protected under it.
“My guess is,” Brodeur said, “it was an accident.”
Author of the law said he supports shielding Trump's info
Among several death threat-related incidents since his 2016 campaign, Trump has faced three major assassination attempts since 2024. In July 2024, a gunman in Pennsylvania fired multiple shots at Trump, grazing his right ear and killing a rally attendee before the Secret Service fatally shot the gunman. In September 2024, another gunman was found hiding with a rifle inside shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach. In April, another gunman fired at officers outside the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington where Trump was speaking before the gunman was apprehended.
Brodeur said he supports efforts to shield Trump’s personal information from public disclosure.
“We know people are crazy and that if we’re going to exempt the personal information of those who work in criminal justice, of judges, of prosecutors, certainly a U.S. president who’s had attempts on his life multiple times should be exempt as well,” he said.
The real-world effect of hiding Trump's address, date of birth and party affiliation is negligible since his permanent home residence is widely known to be his Mar-a-Lago estate and he celebrated his 80th birthday June 14 with a UFC mixed martial arts event on the White House lawn.
Law makes it harder to track whether Trump votes in person or by mail
The move also makes it harder to track whether Trump votes in person or by mail. The method someone uses to cast a ballot during each election – but not who they voted for – is recorded in Florida voter files.
Trump has criticized mail-in ballots – which are used disproportionately in many states by Democratic voters – as corrupt and has sought to restrict their use in future elections through executive order and proposed congressional legislation. Trump himself has voted by mail in Florida at least seven times in the last 12 elections since 2020, including the August primaries, according to state voter records.
Recently, facing midterm elections where Democrats have momentum, Trump reversed course and urged Republicans to vote early and by mail.
The White House did not immediately answer questions Oct. 5 or 6 about Trump’s request. Harris did not return phone messages or emails asking about it.
Wendy Sartory Link, Palm Beach County's supervisor of elections, said in a statement Oct. 6 that it processed Trump’s request under the new law without checking whether the president might be eligible. It described its role in such requests as “only administrative and ministerial.”
Link, a Democrat who has held that role since 2019, is president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections Association.
The office “does not have the authority to investigate asserted facts, adjudicate legal disputes or make independent legal determinations regarding the accuracy of statements made under oath within a submission,” the office's statement said.
The office did not immediately say whether it plans to restore Trump’s personal information in the public voter files.
Trump signed the request March 24. His personal information was removed from voter records after August, according to a review of each month’s voter updates.
New state law broadens whose information can be kept secret
The new Florida law, which took effect in July 2025, broadened the categories of voters whose information can be kept secret for safety reasons. Florida had already allowed judges, prosecutors, public defenders, tax collectors, child abuse investigators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, victims of domestic abuse and select others to shield their personal information.
The move to shield Trump’s voter registration record came to light because a journalism professor at the University of Florida assigned students in a public records class to look up Trump's voter records in Florida as part of a quiz. Students complained they couldn't find Trump's records, after the Palm Beach County elections office removed them over the summer without public notice.
The details about other Trump family members are still in the Florida voter registration records, including those of Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, son Barron Trump, son Donald Trump Jr., son Eric Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, daughter Tiffany Trump and daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
Details about Florida's chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, also no longer appear in the most current state voter registration records. Information about Florida's governor, lieutenant governor and agriculture commissioner has not yet been removed from public records under the new law. It requires officials to formally request such removal from records maintained by state or county government offices.
Election officials have also shielded information in voter registration records about 10 members of Congress in Florida – nine Republicans and one Democrat, Lois Frankel, the former West Palm Beach mayor who is running for reelection in District 22. The Republicans whose information is shielded include gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, Reps. Jimmy Patronis, John Rutherford, Randy Fine, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, William Steube, Maria Salazar and Brian Mast, who is running for reelection in District 21, which includes parts of northern Palm Beach County.
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at as.rodriguez@ufl.edu. You can donate to support our students here.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County removes Trump’s personal info from voter files
