The South Dakota Secretary of State’s office is apologizing after it mistakenly released information about individuals applying for public assistance.
This comes after a South Dakota Searchlight report showing over 7,000 people were labeled as having registered to vote while applying for some form of assistance.
Lawmakers passed a bill requiring the publication of the statewide voter registration file to be available to the public at no cost through the secretary of state’s website. Previously, it cost $2,500 to access.
The law prohibits an individual’s social security number, driver license number, nondriver ID number or birthdate information from being public. The law doesn't include anything about including a voter's source of registration.
Searchlight reports the original statewide voter registration list was published including some of this information. The National Voter Registration Act requires public assistance agencies to facilitate voter registration. In the list, it identified as such saying "Public assistance agencies (SNAP, TANF, WIC, etc.), in addition to other sources of registration like Driver Licensing and by mail.
While public assistance agencies are required to facilitate voter registration, federal law protects the confidentiality of individual public assistance records. State law has similar protections.
“As Secretary of State, I take full responsibility for the release of this information. My office is committed to both transparency and protecting voter privacy,” Secretary of State Monae Johnson said in a statement. “Upon discovering the issue, we acted immediately to remove the data and prevent further dissemination.”
