After several years of absentee voter data disappeared from Georgia’s election website last weekend, it’s now back online with a significant change.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office removed information showing which voters needed assistance because they were elderly or disabled.
"What we wanted to do was protect our vulnerable populations," said Katie Byrd, spokeswoman for the Georgia Attorney General's Office, which recommended the change. "We got a lot of complaints from concerned citizens who this affected, as well as advocacy groups. They were highly uncomfortable with that information being posted online."
Absentee voter information remains public record in Georgia, but McCreary said it doesn’t all need to be posted on the state government’s elections website, where it could potentially be used in scams that target the elderly and disabled.
More than 2.1 million people voted in advance of Election Day, which is a new high for a midterm election in Georgia. Overall, over 3.9 million voters cast ballots in the election.
The online absentee voter files still include the names and ballot status of everyone who voted in advance in a recent election. That information is available for voters to find out if their absentee ballots are mailed and counted.
By Thursday, the column where voters told election officials they were elderly or disabled had been deleted, and absentee ballot spreadsheets dating back to 2013 were again available on the Secretary of State's website.
