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Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
Steyer staffer accused of stealing Harris voter file data resigns
AxiosA South Carolina aide for 2020 candidate Tom Steyer’s campaign resigned after an internal investigation following allegations that he stole volunteer data from the campaign of his Democratic presidential rival Kamala Harris, Steyer's campaign confirmed in a statement late Monday.
Why it matters: South Carolina is a key state as it holds the first primary in the South. The Charleston Post Courier first reported Steyer's campaign put its deputy S.C. state director Dwane Sims on administrative leave so it could investigate allegations that he stole the data of thousands of contacts "using an account from when he worked with the S.C. Democratic Party." The S.C. Democratic Party told Axios it had disabled his account.
Our organizers and volunteers work incredibly hard. ... It's unfortunate anyone would try to steal that work from our team."
— Tweet by Harris' spokesman Ian Sams
The big picture: A Democratic National Committee spokeswoman told the Post Courier it permanently banned Sims from the voter file "and all Democratic Party systems." S.C. Democratic Party chairman Trav Robertson said in a statement to Axios that Sims was "off-boarded at the end of September, and as we learned on Friday, maintained a separate user account, which is in clear violation of the VoteBuilder protocol."
"All data downloaded by this individual was destroyed and was not provided to any third parties," Robertson said. "This user account did not have access to data from any other presidential campaign."
What they're saying: Steyer 2020 campaign manager Heather Hargreaves said in an emailed statement that the incident arose when the S.C. Democratic Party "turned off voter file access to the Steyer campaign for a short period of time."
Why it matters: South Carolina is a key state as it holds the first primary in the South. The Charleston Post Courier first reported Steyer's campaign put its deputy S.C. state director Dwane Sims on administrative leave so it could investigate allegations that he stole the data of thousands of contacts "using an account from when he worked with the S.C. Democratic Party." The S.C. Democratic Party told Axios it had disabled his account.
Our organizers and volunteers work incredibly hard. ... It's unfortunate anyone would try to steal that work from our team."
— Tweet by Harris' spokesman Ian Sams
The big picture: A Democratic National Committee spokeswoman told the Post Courier it permanently banned Sims from the voter file "and all Democratic Party systems." S.C. Democratic Party chairman Trav Robertson said in a statement to Axios that Sims was "off-boarded at the end of September, and as we learned on Friday, maintained a separate user account, which is in clear violation of the VoteBuilder protocol."
"All data downloaded by this individual was destroyed and was not provided to any third parties," Robertson said. "This user account did not have access to data from any other presidential campaign."
What they're saying: Steyer 2020 campaign manager Heather Hargreaves said in an emailed statement that the incident arose when the S.C. Democratic Party "turned off voter file access to the Steyer campaign for a short period of time."
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden