Proposed bill would end state’s sale of voters’ data

As big data companies such as Facebook and Google come under scrutiny for collecting and selling customers’ personal information, so is the state of Connecticut.

A new bill introduced by state Reps. Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich, and Brenda Kupchick, R-Fairfield, would limit the disclosure of voter registration data — which includes birth date, home addresses, party affiliation and more — and prohibit the sale of that data for commercial use.

Connecticut is the only state in the country that allows the sale of voter registration data for commercial purposes, a vestige of the state’s strong Freedom of Information Act long before electronic privacy became an issue.

“The main thing is a lot of people are worried

“I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner to protect the privacy of Connecticut voters and bring Connecticut in line with the majority of states.”

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill

about their information being sold,” Camillo said. “Especially with the hacks going on. You don’t want to make it real easy for the hackers, and anything that makes it a little bit harder I think is a good thing.”

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill introduced similar legislation last year, but the bill died without a vote.

“I’m happy to have the support of Representatives Camillo and Kupchick for the privacy concepts I raised last year, and I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner to protect the privacy of Connecticut voters and bring Connecticut in line with the majority of states,” Merrill said Friday in a written statement.

Under freedom of information laws, the state is required to make public all voter registrations and the information included on them. In addition, the state sells a database of the information for $300.

The only way to remove voter data from public records is to un-register to vote — although in an age of online records, the data never really goes away.