Political group removes list of Idaho voters’ names, addresses from its website

Less than 24 hours after the Statesman reported that a political organization had posted to its website a list with names and addresses of every Idaho voter who requested an absentee ballot for the May 19 primary, the list has been removed.

Each weekday since March 30, Idaho Freedom Action, the politicking arm of Idaho Freedom Foundation, uploaded to its website a spreadsheet it received from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office. The list included each voter’s name; street address; mailing address; party affiliation; the date the voter received the ballot; and the date the voter returned the ballot.

The organization provided no context or explanation on its website as to why it was posting the list, just a blank page titled “Ballot information” with a link to click to download the list. Anyone with internet access could get it, and it contained more than 300,000 names.

Among those whose full name and home address were posted on the internet were judges, law enforcement officers, federal officers and other high-profile people whose addresses are typically kept private for safety reasons.

The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office told the Statesman that posting the data was legal.

REMOVING THE LIST OF VOTERS

Idaho Freedom Action briefly took down the list Wednesday evening, but then reposted it a few hours later. The only apparent change to the updated list was that the home addresses of about 60 people read “protected,” but the full name and mailing address of those classified as “protected” remained.

Late Thursday morning, Idaho Freedom Action once again removed the list and in its place posted an email address through which people could request a copy of the absentee ballot list.

Those “protected” names may be part of the Idaho secretary of state’s own “address protection program,” a state law that allows victims of violence, sexual abuse or stalking to use a substitute address when one is legally required to be provided for state or local government purposes, such as a marriage license, school enrollment or driver’s license.

“The ACP can help protect you and your loved ones by keeping your physical address private, where it would appear in public records,” the Secretary of State’s Office website says.

The state also has a comparable law that allows law enforcement officers to request address confidentiality.

Chad Houck, chief deputy in the Secretary of State’s Office, told the Statesman on Thursday that an “error” had been discovered Wednesday in the list the office had been regularly providing Idaho Freedom Action. IFA agreed to take the list down until the state could send it a new one. Houck explained that list was sent Wednesday night, but it was discovered the new list still had an error, so IFA took it down. Houck said a once-again corrected list was sent to IFA on Thursday.

When asked what the error was and whether it involved the “protected” addresses, Houck told the Statesman, “No comment.”

The Secretary of State’s Office is in the process of notifying those “affected by the error,” Houck said.

He also said IFA could post the corrected list on its website if it wanted to.

“It is not currently statutorily prohibited,” Houck said.

Wayne Hoffman, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation and Idaho Freedom Action, according to IRS and secretary of state records, did not respond to a request for comment as to whether IFA will resume posting the list on its website.

WHY POST THE LIST, ADDRESSES TO THE INTERNET?

Dustin Hurst, communications director for Idaho Freedom Foundation, went on the Nate Shelman show on 670 KBOI on Wednesday afternoon to talk about the list.

Shelman spoke harshly to Hurst, demanding to know why IFA had made Shelman’s home address available across the internet.

“Why did you post my stuff on your website?” Shelman asked Hurst.

“Why is it such a big deal?” Hurst responded.

Hurst eventually told Shelman that IFA posted the info as a “public service” so voters could find out whether the state had received their completed ballot. Shelman called that answer “contrived.”

“If anyone has an issue, take it up with Legislature,” Hurst said. “We followed the law.”

Houck said Wednesday the organization was indeed following the law, “as long as they are not selling” the list.

Under Idaho law, 34-437A(3), the secretary of state is required to keep a complete list of registered voters and must provide it to anyone who makes a pubic record request for it. The list can be used for political purposes, but not commercial ones, under the law.