Voter data released for nearly 30K Springfield residents by far right publication
At least 29,000 Springfield residents have had their personal voter information published this year, an analysis from The State Journal-Register found.
The data has been released by the far-right The Sangamon Sun, published by Local Government Information Services, where the Illinois State Board of Elections is now asking the publisher to remove the information from its 20 websites and 11 print publications.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the data remains online and new articles with voter data have continued to be published this week. The election board has asked the Illinois Attorney General's Office to look into the matter for potential legal action.
"It is disappointing when an organization shows such little regard for voters,” Bernadette Matthews, the board’s executive director, said in a news release.
More: ‘Biased and defamatory:’ Fake, inaccurate newspapers target Dem officials, Illinois voters
For its analysis, The SJ-R tabulated info from the city's 93 voting precincts that mostly supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The Sun has also published voter information from those in Buffalo, Chatham, Rochester and other towns in Sangamon County, which former President Donald Trump carried.
What information was released?
Since the start of the year, dozens of stories have been published showing voter's names, date of birth, home address and whether or not they voted in the 2020 Presidential Election.
Was any financial information released?
No.
How was the information obtained?
According to the election board, Local Government Information Services was once affiliated with the now defunct political committee, Liberty Principles PAC. The presumption is the publisher obtained 2016 voter files through the PAC and combined the data with 2020 voter data. It is unclear how they obtained the voter data from the most recent presidential election.
Most of the voter files would have contained birthdates and street addresses, but it has been confirmed by the board that some of the published lists are inaccurate.
What is Local Government Information Services?
Local Government Information Services owns properties in Chicago, Peoria and Rockford that similarly published voter's personal information. The publisher was also behind a campaign attacking Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and others within his party on the economy, crime and social issues in the lead-up to the 2022 general election.
Contact Hope Gadson: hgadson@gannett.com; Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: 29,000 Illinois residents have personal voting data released
