Data breach exposes Georgia voters’ registration information

Voting software company EasyVote Solutions said Tuesday that it experienced a data breach on Jan. 31, resulting in some Georgia voters’ registration information being shared on the internet, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

No Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers were shared online, according to EasyVote Chief Financial Officer Charles Davis. However, public information such as names, addresses, races and birthdates were shared to an online forum.

EasyVote offers services that simplify the check-in process for voters in many Georgia counties, including Fulton, Oconee and Paulding.

The software is not connected to official voter registration systems in Georgia and is not used for election results or to count ballots.

“EasyVote is not part of Georgia’s voting system,” Ari Schaffer, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, told the Journal-Constitution. “They are a vendor that some counties use to assist them with voter check-in procedures. No part of the state system has been affected.”

The company automatically fills out election applications to allow voters to skip writing in their own information by hand each time they vote.

It is unclear how many people’s information was released due to the breach, but company leadership suspects that information was taken from an online storage location, according to the outlet.

“Upon learning that the files had been made available, EasyVote immediately started an investigation,” said Davis, according to the Journal-Constitution. “EasyVote quickly disabled access to that storage location and transferred the data to a new environment with additional security controls.”

Davis added that EasyVote is working with law enforcement and a cybersecurity firm to safeguard its information and discover how much information has been released.