Foes Of Public Voter List Say Privacy May Be At Risk

By WILLIAM MARCH wmarch@tampatrib.com

TAMPA - The court decision making public a list of voters with possible felony records affects not just that list, officials said Friday, but all voter registration records kept by the state in Tallahassee.

That means anyone can check what information is on state voter rolls.

By late Friday, the Florida Division of Elections had received 80 public records requests for voter information, including several from reporters seeking the ``central voter database,'' the list of all 9.3 million voters statewide, spokeswoman Nicole de Lara said.

Some opponents of making the list public say that creates a privacy problem.

``The Division of Elections' goal is to protect the integrity of elections and the privacy of voters,'' Secretary of State Glenda Hood said in a statement reacting to the court decision. ``Now ... we will make these records accessible to all interested parties.''

Ron Sachs, a Tallahassee political consultant, recently publicized a poll that he said shows the public doesn't want voter registration information made public.

Sachs, a Democrat, said he paid for the poll ``to shed some light on the issue,'' not at the request of a client. However, his firm, along with a Republican-owned firm, has a $200,000 contract with state elections officials to produce elections-related public information videos.

Others say the privacy issue is a red herring.

``All I have to do is go to Google,'' a commonly used Internet search engine, ``and I can easily find out anything about you that I could get from voter rolls,'' Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning said.

State voter records have been open to public inspection for years, along with voter rolls kept by counties.

Until now, though, no one could make or receive copies of them - with the exception of political candidates and committees, and the pollsters, consultants and advertising firms who work for them.

They can get lists of registered voters, with breakouts by party or by voting record, which they use to target potential supporters and likely voters.

The purpose of the law is to protect the public from commercial exploitation, yet it allows political activists to get their messages out to voters, Citrus County Elections Supervisor Susan Gill said.

The new decision gives everyone the same access, at least to the state records in Tallahassee. The old rules still will apply to records in county elections offices.

Data available on voter rolls include home addresses, dates of birth and political party affiliation.

Registration forms sometimes contain Social Security and telephone numbers, but those are not available to the public, Browning said.

The no-copy rule has led to some odd procedures in elections offices.

A nonpolitician may look at the records without copying them - but, pointed out Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson, ``I can't control what people do with the information once they leave my office.''

So when reporters want to check the voting record of a political candidate, for example, they view the information, then walk out of the office to write it down, then come back in for the next record.

``It's completely ridiculous,'' said Alison Steele, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in the case that led to Thursday's court decision.

Steele said the decision doesn't create greater exposure to private information.

Mailing lists with more data ``get bought and sold all over the country, and that doesn't stop people from applying for credit cards, buying things out of catalogs, subscribing to magazines,'' she said. ``Now others will have the access, not just politicians.''

Browning said he agrees, with one exception: absentee ballot information.

Laws on absentee ballots have been relaxed, and they're often used by people who want the convenience of voting by mail even when they are in town for the election. Still, Browning said, about half of absentee voters are indeed out of town.

He worries criminals could get absentee ballot lists and use them for burglaries.