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Voter Privacy

Voter Privacy. Don Wright General Counsel NC State Board of Elections December 2010. Voter Registration. GS 163-82.10 Certain information is confidential “Range of age” information requests Certain voters can have confidential protection

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Voter Privacy

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  1. Voter Privacy Don Wright General Counsel NC State Board of Elections December 2010

  2. Voter Registration • GS 163-82.10 Certain information is confidential “Range of age” information requests Certain voters can have confidential protection Confidentiality of VR data is effective once the VR form is tendered to the County Board. Until that time, VR solicitors have access to data on the forms they possess.

  3. Absentee Ballots • The nature of processing these ballots by county boards may associate a voter with his/her ballot choices. • One-stop, in-person absentee voting mandates “retrievable ballots” so successfully challenged ballots can be removed. • The public has expressed some concern about numbered one-stop ballots.

  4. VBT (Verified Ballot Transaction) The actual processes of conducting an election have changed little over the decades, however, elections technology has progressed into the computer age. Many things that once were recorded by hand are now facilitated by the use of computers. This may cause voter concern as to privacy. The VBT program using a barcode scanner serves two main functions. Along with making sure a voter is given the correct ballot, it records in the computerized poll book that the voter presented to vote. Then that information is used to compile voter history. Several voters expressed concern that the barcode scanners somehow mark a ballot so that voter can be associated with that ballot. In addition, some voters think the bar code scanners can modify the vote totals of tabulators and the working of DRE systems. Treat these concerns with respect and convey the reasons for the bar code scanners and their functional limitations.

  5. Voted Ballots and PaperElectronic Records of Voted Ballots § 163‑165.1.  Scope and general rules. (e) Voted ballots and paper and electronic records of individual voted ballots shall be treated as confidential, and no person other than elections officials performing their duties may have access to voted ballots or paper or electronic records of individual voted ballots except by court order or order of the appropriate board of elections as part of the resolution of an election protest or investigation of an alleged election irregularity or violation. Voted ballots and paper and electronic records of individual voted ballots shall not be disclosed to members of the public in such a way as to disclose how a particular voter voted, unless a court orders otherwise. Any person who has access to an official voted ballot or record and knowingly discloses in violation of this section how an individual has voted that ballot is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. (2001‑460, s. 3; 2002‑159, s. 55(o); 2005‑323, s. 1(f); 2007‑391, s. 9(a).)

  6. Polling Place Privacy § 163‑166.2.  Arrangement of the voting enclosure. Each voting enclosure shall contain at a minimum: (1) A sufficient number of private spaces for all voters to mark their official ballots in secrecy. Also see 8 NCAC 10B.0102 (h) as to voting enclosure setup that protects voter privacy.

  7. Placing the Voted Ballot in the Tabulator • A frequent complaint is that in some precincts, precinct workers hover at or near the tabulators in a matter allowing them to see the voted ballot being placed into the tabulator. • Crowding of voters at the tabulator may create the same problem. • Privacy sleeves or folders for transporting voted ballots to the tabulator are not required but helps voter privacy.

  8. Photographing § 163‑166.3.  Limited access to the voting enclosure. (b) Photographing Voters Prohibited. – No person shall photograph, videotape, or otherwise record the image of any voter within the voting enclosure, except with the permission of both the voter and the chief judge of the precinct. If the voter is a candidate, only the permission of the voter is required. This subsection shall also apply to one‑stop sites under G.S. 163‑227.2. This subsection does not apply to cameras used as a regular part of the security of the facility that is a voting place or one‑stop site. (c) Photographing Voted Ballot Prohibited. – No person shall photograph, videotape, or otherwise record the image of a voted official ballot for any purpose not otherwise permitted under law.

  9. Voter Assistance Privacy § 163‑166.8(c).  Assistance to voters. (1) The person rendering assistance shall not in any manner seek to persuade or induce any voter to cast any vote in any particular way. (2) The person rendering assistance shall not make or keep any memorandum of anything which occurs within the voting booth. (3) The person rendering assistance shall not, directly or indirectly, reveal to any person how the assisted voter marked ballots, unless the person rendering assistance is called upon to testify in a judicial proceeding for a violation of the election laws. (2001‑460, s. 3.)

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