The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ga. voter info posted online after breach of software company

No Social Security or driver’s license data involved, firm says.

- By Mark Niesse Mark.niesse@ajc.com

A data breach of the voting software company Easyvote Solutions exposed Georgia voters’ registrati­on informatio­n on the internet.

Public informatio­n about voters was posted to an online forum, but the breach didn’t involve Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers, said Charles Davis, chief financial officer for Easyvote. Voter registrati­on informatio­n can include names, addresses, races and dates of birth.

Easyvote’s software isn’t connected to Georgia voter registrati­on computers. Easy- Vote doesn’t generate or count ballots, and it’s not used for election results.

The company, based in Woodstock, provides soft- ware that streamline­s voter check-ins during early voting in dozens of counties across Georgia, including Fulton, Oconee and Paulding counties. The software uses local voter registrati­on to print out filled-in elec- tion applicatio­ns for voters when they arrive at the polls, instead of requiring voters to complete paperwork by hand.

Voter informatio­n may have been obtained from an Easyvote online storage location, Davis said. It’s unclear how many voters were affected by the breach, which Easyvote learned about Jan. 31.

“Upon learning that the files had been made available, Easyvote immediatel­y started an investigat­ion,” Davis said. “Easyvote quickly disabled access to that storage location and transferre­d the data to a new environmen­t with additional security controls.”

The Georgia voter registrati­on system remains secure,

according to the secretary of state’s office.

“Easyvote is not part of Georgia’s voting system. They are a vendor that some counties use to assist them with voter check-in procedures. No part of the state system has been affected,” said Ari Schaffer, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.

Easyvote contacted law enforcemen­t and is working with a cybersecur­ity firm, Davis said. The company is reviewing the files to determine the extent of the informatio­n that may have been exposed.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States