The state attorney general’s office accidently provided the Social Security numbers of Texas voters to opposing lawyers as part of a voter ID case, but none of the data leaked out, a top state attorney said Wednesday. The Social Security numbers were part of a database of 13.1 million Texas voters turned over to attorneys challenging a new law requiring voters to show state-issued photo identification. The list was supposed to include only the last four digits of the voters’ Social Security numbers, to allow groups to analyze whether the law would disproportionately keep minorities from voting. But when two groups opened encrypted discs supplied to them by the attorney general’s office, they discovered some entries included the full nine-digit number, said First Assistant Attorney General Daniel Hodge. The problem came about because the information was supplied by 254 county registrars using different forms over several decades and in some cases the full number was entered, he said.
“Any claims the Social Security numbers were exposed to the public are categorically false,” Hodge said, explaining that six discs were made and delivered to the attorneys. “Once it was brought to the state’s attention … within 24 hours those discs were reclaimed by the state.” Hodge said only two of the copies had been accessed and in both cases the attorneys involved immediately notified the state. All of the personal data collected for the trial and shared among the attorneys is protected by a court order and the information was never placed on a public computer server, he added. A state police officer was sent to New York and Washington to retrieve the discs.
Full Article: Texas accidentally released personal data in voter I.D. case | Dallasnews.com – News for Dallas, Texas – The Dallas Morning News.
