Yet another trove of sensitive US voter records has leaked

[DonViejo]

Source: ZDNet




Each record contained details on voters, including names, addresses, dates of birth, their ethnic identity, whether an individual is married, and the individual's voting preferences.

By Zack Whittaker for Zero Day | September 14, 2017 -- 18:00 GMT (11:00 PDT) |

A cache of voter records on over a half-million Americans has been found online.

The records, totaling 593,328 individual sets of records, appear to contain every registered voter in the state of Alaska, according to security researchers at the Kromtech Security Research Center, who found the database.

The records were stored in a misconfigured CouchDB database, which was accessible to anyone with a web browser -- no password needed -- until Monday when the data was secured and subsequently pulled offline. The exposed data is just a portion of a larger voter file compiled by TargetSmart, which said its national voter file -- that contains 191 million voters -- is the "most comprehensive and up-to-date voter file ever assembled." The data is collected and used to help political campaigns with their fundraising, research, and voter contact programs, the company said. ZDNet was provided a small sample of the records for verification.

Each XML-formatted record contained details, some sensitive and personally identifiable information, on prospective voters, including names, addresses, dates of birth, their ethnic identity, whether an individual is married, and the individual's voting preferences. But the data also contained highly personal information, such as household income, the age ranges of an individual's children, and if an individual is a homeowner. The records -- some are more complete than others -- also have fields for the types of issues that an individual can be lobbied on, such as climate change, gun control, and tax reforms.



Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/article/yet-another-trove-of-sensitive-of-us-voter-records-has-leaked/

[Mr.Bill]

1. What do they mean by "voter preferences"?

There is no record of who or what any individual voted for. Your ballot is anonymous.

[JonLP24]

2. Mostly everything seems to go through machines

Even paper ballots are scanned by a machine in a lot of places who knows what can be found out through a hack. I don't have an answer just a guess.

[Mr.Bill]

4. Those paper ballots that go through a machine

are anonymous. There is no way to attach a name to them. The electronic machines are also anonymous.

[JonLP24]

8. Is there some ID number or something to make sure you only voted once

I probably shouldn't have posted since I'm speculating. I'm curious with the journalist meant as well.

[Mr.Bill]

9. Not on the ballot itself.

They rely on crossing your name off a list at the polling place to ensure you don't vote twice. And if you received a mail in ballot, the log book at the precinct says that. If you have received a mail in ballot and want to vote live, you must surrender the mail in ballot you received. If you don't have it, it is lost, or spoiled, or whatever, you have to sign documents saying so and fill out a provisional ballot. Then it will be investigated it your mail in ballot was received and you still voted live. Technically you will have violated the law if you did that.

I say all this with the caveat that I can only speak about California, where I was a precinct inspector. Anecdotally, I understand most other states operate in much the same way. An exception, for instance, would be Oregon, where they only have mail in ballots.

[JonLP24]

10. Another thing I'm wondering about is how this information came up

also have fields for the types of issues that an individual can be lobbied on, such as climate change, gun control, and tax reforms.

I wish the article had more information.

[Mr.Bill]

11. I would think they are extrapolating those things from

party affiliation, and/or other demographic information on the voter registration form, such as age and gender.

[zipplewrath]

3. Party

Mostly things like what primary you vote in, what elections you show up for, whether you do absentee, early voting, etc.

[Mr.Bill]

5. You are correct on all of those.

And they are all a matter of public record.

[tom_kelly]

6. Not in every state from what I understand n/t

[Mr.Bill]

7. I certainly can't speak for every state.

But if the information was in the hands of a private company, I would venture in that state (Alaska in this case) it is a matter of public record.

[mercuryblues]

13. My guess would be

is they get that from your voter registration from states where you have to declare a party, which party you volunteer for/donate to, and which primary you vote in the R or D.

A lot of the Data they have is cross matched from various sources.

[Turbineguy]

12. Did they put

Sarah Palin in charge or something?