Secretary of State Giving Out Personal Information

In the age of cyber criminals and identity theft we have our 'friends' at the State Secretary of State giving out all kinds of personal details such as full name, date of birth, address, phone number and MORE because we registered to vote.

Is it REALLY necessary that our privacy be exposed simply because we want to exercise our right to vote? I value my privacy very much and literally the only place I appear on the internet is on the state website because of the morons at the SoS.

I get that we need to have voter information and registration, but is it absolutely necessary to expose our personal details for all to see on the internet?

There is plenty of information exposed by these people to sink all of us by pre-texters and social engineers.

I find this completely unacceptable.

a reply to: Metallicus

But polling organizations are exempt, along with charities, political parties and religious institutions.

...as it applies to DNC lists. I wonder if they are using that information for the same thing. Either way, it's not right.

To those of you who do not know what the SoS is. It's the same as DMV.

ETA: www.nytimes.com...

a reply to: JinMI

The reason they can't get an accurate poll is probably people like me that won't talk to them. I literally could care less about their data collection, polls and analysis. Also, it isn't the media etc that scares me. It is everyone else that can get our personal details.

a reply to: Metallicus

Between those like you and cell phones, yes. Exactly. My mothers boyfriend talks to them forever, never giving them any information, just wastes their time. Pretty funny to watch. He likes to act senile.

I haven't found anything connecting that law with SoS however.

Citizens running for office request and get comprehensive voter lists from the county elections department here in Texas. From that list you'll find complete name, address and date of birth - which is a very handy thing to know when pounding the pavement knocking on doors and speaking to potential voters. In some precincts, it is not at all unusual for John Sr. and John Jr. to vote for each other, so having that age information helps to keep things consistent.

Of course, this doesn't happen in the national or state wide elections - none of the state or national politicians pound the pavement themselves (they have people to do that for them).

What most folks DON'T know, is that there is also a record of every election an individual voted in - not who they voted. So if you vote in a primary election, democrat or republican, that information is also on the list as well as how your ballot was cast - early voting, absentee mail-in, or election day.

Evidently, WHO the registered voters are is considered public information. Basically, the system is setup to trust the politicians with your address and age information. I am NOT condoning the system, merely reporting.

I will say, having run for office in my little town, it's a boon to effective personal campaigning to be able to knock on a door and say "Hi, Mister Voter (by name), my name is so-and-so and I'm running for Mayor".

ganjoa

a reply to: JinMI

Secretary of State is the same as the DMV?

The DMV may be a department that is under the umbrella of the secretary of state, it all depends on how your state's government is organized..?

a reply to: Kettu

SoS's aren't in every state.

DMV's also aren't in every state. For those who don't know what the function of these places are, I wanted to clarify.

For example, in MI, we don't have a DMV. It's called Secretary of State, and we go to that office to renew our licenses, registrations etc.