A right-wing organization, the Voter Reference Foundation, operates VoteRef, a website allowing users to freely search for voter information in most U.S. states. This includes names, addresses, ages, party affiliations, and voting history. The accessibility of such data has prompted significant privacy and security concerns, especially in light of intensified political polarization and an increased risk of data misuse for harassment or doxing. The site’s availability has been criticized for turning a vital part of the democratic process, voting, into a potential security threat.
The Voter Reference Foundation, which runs Vote, is a right-wing organization previously reported on by ProPublica. Their initial goal was to investigate possible irregularities in voter numbers and ballot counts; however, state election officials have dismissed their findings as fundamentally incorrect. During an interview with NPR, a ProPublica reporter noted that the organization insinuated, falsely, that the 2020 election of Joe Biden was fraudulent. 404 Media has found evidence that individuals are using VoteRef’s data to propagate voting conspiracies. While the site has expanded its coverage to most states that legally allow publication, exceptions include California, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. After being contacted by an attorney for Pennsylvania’s Department of State, VoteRef removed Pennsylvania data. Justin Sherman, a Duke University professor who studies data brokers, emphasized the significant privacy implications of digitizing and aggregating data from public records. He warned that the current practices shift the privacy context and increase the risks to personal safety and data security. Policymakers, according to Sherman, need to address these practices and recognize their potential to fuel decades of stalking, harassment, and even homicide. Protecting individuals across political spectra, survivors of gender-based violence, public servants, and others requires re-evaluating public records privacy and how data is aggregated and sold.