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Sunday, March 28, 2004
Indiana law - Access to county voter data restricted
"Access to voter data restricted: Some local lawmakers say database is used as a political tool." That is the headline to this lead story today in the Munster NW Indiana Times. Rather than making an electronic copy of the Lake County 369,511-record registration database available to the Times pursuant to its FOIA request (as Porter County, for instance, has done), according to the Times story Lake County Commissioners will provide only a 13,736-page paper copy at a cost of $3,294.
The state election board also receives a copy of each county's voter registration database, but state law requires it to sell the database as a combined document for $5,000.State parties buy it and provide it to statewide candidates and county chairs.
The state's public access counselor, Michael Hurst, said state law is written so that each county can adopt a uniform policy about what format it uses to provide the registration information. While Hurst said electronic versions can be more useful than paper versions, he said Lake County's resolution fell within state law.
Dale Simmons, the Republican attorney for the state election board, said a number of local boards have expressed fears about identity theft because some older files may contain Social Security numbers. These records can be accessed on paper at any registration board, but Simmons said the electronic version could lead to more widespread fraud. * * *
LaPorte County election officials said they sell their electronic database for $100. Marion County officials said they will not provide an electronic version.
April Sellers, an attorney for the city of Indianapolis, said the reason is, "It's always the way it's been done."
David Stamps, executive director for the Hoosier State Press Association, said denying such an enormous public records file in a usable format violates the spirit of public access laws, if not the letter of the law. The intent is to ensure better government through public oversight, he said.
"I'll do anything to get this cleaned up," [State Sen. Rose Ann Antich-Carr, D-Merrillville] said about the voter rolls and Lake County's reputation statewide. "I'm sick and tired of being embarrassed to be from Lake County."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 28, 2004 06:10 PM
Posted to Indiana Law