Non-Slated Candidates Blast Marion County Election Board For Releasing Voter's Confidential Information

When the Marion Co. Election Board initially voted to block non-slated candidates for office from gaining access to the same electronic voter information that is provided to a major party's endorsed candidates, the election board members said they were concerned about protecting confidential voter information contained in voting records from potential misuse. Yet that same election board is now under fire for sending out tens of thousands of post cards in the mail that contain sensitive information, including a voter's date of birth and the last four digits of their social security number. The purpose of the mailing was to inform voters of new locations for voting on election day, but it included confidential information that could be used for identity theft purposes. The board gave in to public pressure after a lawsuit was filed against it for not following state law and adopted a policy for the release of voter information in electronic format. Less than two weeks after the board adopted that policy, it now stands accused of violating it. "Voter registration has just sent this information through the mail on a post card that anyone could read," according to a press release from several non-slated candidates for judge and legislative races in Marion County. "The Election Board went to great lengths to create a very restrictive policy that denied us public information, and they immediately violated it," Greg Bowes, a Democratic candidate for judge stated. "It's frustrating that our campaigns have been hurt, but Voter Registration will suffer no sanction for this terrible mistake." Republican judicial candidate Paul Ogden added, "By sending out private information, it is now clear they were only trying to protect slated candidates and make it more difficult for unslated candidates to win."

UPDATE: This story is even worse than it first appeared. It turns out thousands of the postcards included the wrong location for a voter's polling place. The election board is now having to rush out new post cards with the correct address.