Q&A of the Day – Can we keep our voter registration information private in Florida?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
Facebook: Brian Mudd https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Today’s entry...
Hey Brian! I just had a thought about voter’s email being provided at registration. Can we get bills/law proposed to avoid the political BS from the media? Or is this something already available?
Bottom Line: My recent story about the Florida DMV selling us out for $77 million per year, got the attention of a lot of listeners. While we probably shouldn’t be surprised that governments generally aren’t great stewards of personal information (after all how do they treat our money?), I still think the average Floridian just wouldn’t expect the DMV to sell our personal information to whoever's buying. That’s why I did the story in the first place. This question is a natural extension of that story. It’s not just the DMV selling our info. Yes, our voter registration information is made publicly available as well. As the state, states: All voter registration information is public record including your name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, phone number and email address.
Prior to retiring, my dad was a registered NPA for business purposes due to that consideration. I’ll address your question in two parts. First, who’s exempt from their information being made available and second the consideration for new policy. Here’s the exempt list in which information can remain private:
- Code enforcement officers
- Investigators
- DCF employees
- Dept. of Health employees
- Dept. of Financial Service employees
- EMS
- Firefighters
- Guardian ad litem
- HR for any government entity
- Judge
- Judicial officers
- Tax collectors
- Probation officers
- Law enforcement
- Government Prosecutors
- Public Defenders
- Federal attorney's
- Military
- Victims of domestic violence, abuse and/or stalking
They carved out just about everyone who works in government, while exposing the info of all us private sector schlubs (unless you’ve been personally victimized). Seems pretty messed up doesn’t it? Which takes me to your second question. Yes, we could pursue policy to conceal the voter registration information for all Floridians – not just those deemed important by politicians who put this policy in place way back when. Reach out to your state representative and state senator and let them know how you feel. They’re elected to represent your interests.