Questions abound in voter data breach

Right now there are as many questions as there are answers in the accidental release of personal information of more than 6 million Georgia voters.

Those questions persist despite hundreds of page of documents released so far as parts of Secretary of State Brian Kemp's internal investigation . In fact, those documents prompt even more questions, as my story in Sunday's AJC demonstrates.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp came under scrutiny after his office accidentally released sensitive personal data on every registered voter in the state. BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Chris Joyner

icon to expand image

Credit: Chris Joyner

  • Why was there no memorandum of agreement drafted between the Secretary of State and the Department of Revenue governing the transfer of the voter data?
  • Why, in fact, did the Department of Revenue need complete Social Security numbers, birth dates and drivers' license numbers on every voter?
  • Why did no one sound the alarm when computer programmer Gary Cooley asked for the data to be added to the standing statewide voter file?
  • What other policies on data handling were being ignored in Kemp's office?

Kemp is not answering those (or other) questions right now, preferring to let the released documents speak for themselves. We are pursuing these questions and more. In the meantime, read the AJC's investigation here.