Voter Database Security Questioned

Computerworld - The creation of statewide voter databases, as mandated for all states by the federal Help America Vote Act, could pose unavoidable privacy risks, some advocates and officials fear.

"The Help America Vote Act mandated that all states create centralized, statewide voter registration databases, but it didn't mandate any protections for that data," said Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit voting technology watchdog group.

When people register to vote in the U.S., they are required to provide personal information, such as date and place of birth and current residence, which could be used by identity thieves, she said. Such personal information will be stored in each state's voter database.

Freddie Oakley, clerk recorder for Yolo County, Calif., said she fears that a loss of local control could diminish the security of voter data.

"The data I have collected and feel some responsibility for is now out of my hands," she said. "I have zero control over what happens once it's in the custody of the secretary of state. We do know that nobody is excellent at managing databases with respect to privacy."

A spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said that the state's voter database is adequately protected against unauthorized access and data theft.

"The [voter registration] database is entirely implemented on a dedicated private network, including state-owned, dedicated workstations for data exchange with counties," she said. "Servers, workstations and network components are hardened to industry standards and verified by regular scanning and analysis."