Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Georgia Voter Data Leak

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Two Georgia citizens have filed a class action lawsuit against the Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, for violations of Georgia privacy laws.

The class action lawsuit alleges that the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office sent political parties and media personnel a list of every registered voter’s private information, and did not disclose this fact to the public under after the lawsuit was filed.

According to the data breach class action lawsuit, the it is common for the Secretary of State’s Office to send out voter information, called the “Voter File,” on CDs to the media and political parties, or anyone who pays $500. The only information supposed to be in the Voter File is “the voter name, residential address, mailing address if different, race, gender, registration date and last voting date.”

The Georgia privacy class action lawsuit alleges that on or after Oct. 13, 2015, the Voter File CDs disclosed more voter information than they should have. Specifically, the data breach class action lawsuit alleges the Voter File included the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and dates of birth for more than 6 million registered Georgia voters.

The class action lawsuit states that the plaintiffs are unaware of a reason why the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office even needs to store full Social Security numbers and driver’s license information of registered voters, since the voter application only asks for the last four digits of a person’s Social Security number.

Plaintiffs Elise Piper and Yvette Nancy Sanders state that they are registered voters in Georgia, and that their personal information was on the Voter File CDs that went out in October. Their class action complaint contains pictures of their information, allegedly from a Voter File CD, with their Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and birth dates redacted.

In addition to disclosing that information, the class action lawsuit alleges that the Secretary of State’s Office was told of the information disclosure, but the office “has failed to inform the recipients of the CD about the sensitive nature of the information contained on the October 13, 2015 CD; has failed to secure the copies of the CDs containing the personal information; and has failed to give notice to the registered voters whose information has been unlawfully distributed.”

On Nov. 20, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office published a letter which confirms that 12 CDs were sent out with “personal voter information.” The letter states that all 12 disks were returned to the Secretary of State’s Office or were “destroyed by the recipients.”

The Georgia privacy class action lawsuit seeks to create a call of all persons registered to vote in Georgia on Oct. 13, 2015. The plaintiffs also seek to require the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to notify all registered voters of the information disclosure, take necessary steps to prevent any harm based on that disclosure, and to make sure such information is not disclosed in the future.

Piper and Sanders are represented by Jennifer Auer Jordan and Wayne M. Cartwright of Shamp Speed Jordan Woodward.

The Georgia Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Piper, et al. v. Kemp, Case No. 2015-CV-268170, in Georgia State Superior Court, Fulton County.