Last week, there were reports in various national media that information about nearly 200 million voters was available on a public website. Since then the website has been closed.
Following these reports, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued the following statement: “Our office is aware of media reports which indicate that national voter information, including the information of some California voters, has allegedly been posted online in an insecure manner by an unknown third party. We are working to verify these claims.
“The voter records described in recent media reports were not posted online by the California Secretary of State,” he assured state voters. “We are in communication with the California Attorney General’s office and stand ready to provide any assistance necessary.”
According to the release, under state law, the voter file is confidential and cannot be made available to the public or used for any personal, private or commercial purpose. However, state law authorizes the voter file to be provided for use for political, election, scholarly, journalistic or governmental purposes.
