Politics
Politics

Kemp tells lawmakers “bad guys” don’t have Georgia voter data

By James Salzer
Jan 19, 2016

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp assured lawmakers Tuesday that criminals don’t have the sensitive information of 6 million Georgia voters that was exposed in a massive data breach last year.

How does he know?

“I am no expert on data security, but my personal opinion is if that information had made it out to the bad guys, we would already have had some issues,” Kemp said. “I am very confident that information never reached the public domain.”

Kemp made the comments during an appearance before a joint hearing of the House and Senate budget committees.

The secretary of state was in attendance to talk about his office’s proposed budget for the upcoming year, but he knew coming in that he would have to address the data breach.

The personal data released in the breach —- including Social Security numbers, birth dates and driver's license numbers —- appear to have been inadvertently sent out in October to 12 organizations that regularly subscribe to "voter lists" maintained by the state.

About the Author

James Salzer has covered state government and politics in Georgia since 1990. He previously covered politics and government in Texas and Florida. He specializes in government finance, budgets, taxes, campaign finance, ethics and legislative history

Follow James Salzer on twitter
More Stories

Keep Reading

Attorney General Chris Carr, who is running for Georgia governor, collected contributions from 900 donors between April and June. (Curtis Compton/AJC file photo 2019)

Credit: AJC file photo

Carr adds another $1.25M as Georgia governor’s race takes shape

Attorney General Chris Carr boosted his campaign war chest in the Republican race for Georgia governor with $1.2M in addition to the $2.2M he banked last year.

Georgia appeals court rules election boards must certify results

The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that election board members are required to certify election results even when they have concerns about fraud or errors.

Georgia builds new system to compensate wrongfully convicted

A new law takes that took effect in Georgia on July 1 makes it easier for the wrongfully convicted to be compensated for time behind bars.

The Latest

Attorney General Chris Carr, who is running for Georgia governor, collected contributions from 900 donors between April and June. (Curtis Compton/AJC file photo 2019)

Credit: AJC file photo

Carr adds another $1.25M as Georgia governor’s race takes shape

Georgia appeals court rules election boards must certify results

LISTEN

Medicaid, Geoff Duncan, DEI in the mailbag edition of ‘Politically Georgia’

Featured

Scott Jackson (right), business service consultant for WorkSource Fulton, helps job seekers with their applications in a mobile career center at a job fair hosted by Goodwill Career Center in Atlanta. (Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC)

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC

Unemployment in Georgia is down, but so is the labor force. Why?

Georgia’s labor force has declined by nearly 30,000 compared to May last year. Here are some reasons why.

Georgia appeals court rules election boards must certify results

The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that election board members are required to certify election results even when they have concerns about fraud or errors.

Atlanta crypto biz owner caught up in fraud says it’s ‘like living in a James Bond movie’

Prosecutors say North Korean IT specialists are 'infiltrating' tech companies in the U.S. as remote workers to steal money from businesses and funnel it back to North Korea.