California sells registered voters’ e-mail addresses

Was wondering for a long time how around election time I always start getting lots of e-mails related to political campaigns.  Where are they getting my address?  It turns out they are getting it because California allows it to be sold!  The actual lists are maintained and released by each respective county’s board of elections.

I just found an article about this which states:

If it were a Viagra ad, it be considered a crime in some states. But a political message, that’s all perfectly legal.

For San Francisco the Board of Elections is responsible for providing the “Master Voter File” to qualifying parties which request it, for a fee.

I think I understand why voters’ e-mail addresses are given out.  Its basically an extension of the same reason that addresses are given out.  When its election time candidates want to be able to communicate with voters.

But we are now in a time of paradigm shift and this needs to change.  Privacy reasons are part of it, but there are other reasons are well.  Its not the best system.  I think that every responsible voter should have access to some kind of citizen portal site where, among other things civic, they can check out all the info on candidates and issues.

In other words, I think the system should be a pull-based system rather than a push-based one.  For anyone who logs onto the citizen portal site the first option will be to opt out of all mailings/e-mails.

For state and federal elections I’ve generally found Wikipedia to be useful when researching candidates’ backgrounds.  This is the idea of a pull-based system.  I am pulling the information in because I want to know what or who I’m voting for.  We should take elections more seriously and, in addition to getting the money out of politics which is the most serious threat to America, need to have a better electoral system which incorporates new paradigms and modern technologies. There should be a portal site for every registered voter to access information not just about political campaigns, but all matters of civic concern and community. And e-voting should be an option. In this age of two-factor authentication there is no reason not to have e-voting. My laptop has a fingerprint scanner and others should be able to get one (or even have it provided which would still probably be vastly cheaper in the long run for governments).

In the present case of my e-mail address having been sold to numerous campaigns, I may seek to have it removed from the Master Voter File.  But that’s not the best solution.  There needs to be more.

Oddly, on the beginning page of California’s new online voter registration form it says:

Important Notices
1. Your information is protected.
The law prohibits your voter registration information from being used for commercial purposes. Report any problems to the Secretary of State’s Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683).


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