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 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 — or in extreme cases, through the Safe at Home program run by the Secretary of the State’s office. That program is a partnership with the state’s domestic violence crisis centers and allows victims to use the state office as their mailing address for registration purposes.

The only way into the program is through a domestic violence crisis center.

Hillary Long, who lives in the Southport section of Fairfield, has been working with Camillo on the legislation, and started the website ctvoterprivacy.org to help get the word out.

“People are going to register to vote thinking they are just registering to vote, they don’t think there are any negative ramifications for voting in the state of Connecticut,” Long said. “It’s just really important that people know about this.”

Colleen Murphy, executive director of the state Freedom of Information Commission, said in written testimony last year the agency opposed the law as it was proposed. But she said at the time the commission was not against working with lawmakers on a way to reduce privacy risks while still upholding the public’s right to information.