For a state that values data privacy, California should offer voters the right to keep their contact information and voting history private.

The privacy problem

This election cycle, I received a noticeable increase of mailers, text messages, and emails from campaigns. In San Francisco, there were 22 propositions on the ballot and several tight races, so campaigns were busy targeting and persuading voters.

Little did I know that the state was sending “my email address, and phone number, along with my address and party affiliation” to campaigns, according to an investigation conducted by Geoffrey A. Fowler, a columnist for the Washing Post.

While I may have offered my email address and phone number voluntarily when registering to vote, I never consented to that information being shared to other parties. Was there a piece of fine print that I missed?

The state is sharing this information to “campaigns, parties, academics, and journalists (and the companies that help them)” without my consent.

My physical address is considered sensitive location data, a critical piece of personally identifiable information (PII) that I work hard to keep private. I pay for a virtual mailbox / forwarding address and to have my information removed from data brokers, whose business model it is to find, capture, and sell my contact information and location data.

The alternatives

There’s no easy to way to prevent the state from making my voter information and history semi-public record. My current options to keep part of my voter file confidential are:

• Have all of my mail be forwarded to a different address if I am eligible for the Safe at Home program that helps victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking as well as reproductive health providers keep their address confidential if they believe their life is at risk
• Have a court order that requires keeping my residence address, telephone number, and e-mail address confidential after “showing of good cause that a life-threatening circumstance exists to the voter or a member of the voter’s household”
• Re-register to vote (without providing my phone number or email address) but still have no control over my physical address from being shared

Why must my life be in danger for me to opt-out of having my voter file be shared?

An opt-out function and greater transparency

The state should provide the option for everyday residents to opt-out of their personally identifiable information from being shared.

The government of California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) to “give consumers more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them.”

The Attorney General’s office website explains that “this landmark law [CCPA] secures new privacy rights for California consumers:

• The right to know about the personal information a business collects about them and how it is used and shared;
• The right to delete personal information collected from them (with some exceptions);
• The right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information; and
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising their CCPA rights.

Businesses are required to give consumers certain notices explaining their privacy practices. The CCPA applies to many businesses, including data brokers.”

Maybe the state should require providing the same level of notice and transparency to their citizens about privacy practices of their own.

Thinking ahead

I relied heavily on using direct quotes and wrote in an op-ed style to make my point. I wrote this based on an hour of research, but I intend to research this topic further. Who does this impact? Has an opt-out function been proposed before? If you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions, please reach out.

As people hold their breath for the results, big thank you to the SF Chronicle and KQED for their excellent coverage, voter guide, and editorials to inform residents and readers in navigating the chonky ballot.