Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 29, 1993 TAG: 9303290093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: LARRY O'DELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Marc Alan Greidinger of Fredericksburg said the state has no legitimate reason for including Social Security numbers on voter registration lists that are open to public inspection.
"When you provide your Social Security number, the idea is that it somehow makes it more difficult to commit voter fraud," Greidinger said. "But the state has no way to confirm the number, and they don't ask for proof. So what was put up as a hedge against fraud is not a hedge against fraud at all. It's just used by the state to keep its computer records together."
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that it is unconstitutional to require voters to list Social Security numbers unless the data is kept confidential. The court said public disclosure of the numbers unduly burdens a citizen's right to vote.
Neither the attorney general's office nor the state Board of Elections will say whether the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael Brown, secretary of the elections board, said the two offices are conferring "to determine what options - administrative, legislative or otherwise - are available to resolve this issue."
Greidinger suggested an appeal would be a waste of taxpayers' money.
"The amazing thing to me is that the state has already spent so much money to allow themselves to keep publishing Social Security numbers when they have no real interest in doing that," he said.
Georgia is the only other state that requires voters to list their Social Security numbers and makes the information public, said Paul R. Wolfson, a lawyer for Public Citizen Legislation Group in Washington, D.C.
"We do gather the Social Security numbers, and they are made available," said Jack Sinks, spokesman for the Georgia secretary of state's office in Atlanta. "We've never had any issue raised about it."
Georgia is not affected by the appeals court's decision because that state is in a different judicial circuit. However, Wolfson said he hopes the Virginia case will encourage someone to challenge the Georgia law.
Eleven other states require voters to list their Social Security number when registering to vote, according to the Federal Elections Commission. But those states do not make the numbers public.
In both Virginia and Georgia, anyone can obtain a person's Social Security number by inspecting voter registration records.
The FEC said 14 states request, but do not require, Social Security numbers for voter registration. Greidinger said many of those states make the numbers public, which is legal because the information is given voluntarily.
Greidinger said federal law requires states requesting Social Security numbers to inform voters:
Whether compliance is voluntary or mandatory.
By what statutory authority the information is requested.
How the numbers will be used.
"States where the number is optional are operating legally so long as they are making the proper disclosure under federal law," Greidinger said. "That sort of arrangement would be fine in Virginia."
One of Greidinger's concerns about Virginia's law was handled legislatively. The 1993 General Assembly passed, and Gov. Douglas Wilder has signed, a bill requiring the elections board to delete Social Security numbers from voter lists sold to political committees.
However, the state continues to include the numbers on computer tapes that are routinely sold and on records open to personal inspection, Greidinger said.
"The court ruling fills in a lot of gaps that the legislation left open," he said.
Christie Vernon of York County agreed that the legislation did not go far enough but "was better than nothing." Vernon, president of the Virginia Federation of Democratic Women, lobbied for that bill and for a failed measure to remove Social Security numbers from driver's licenses.
"There's no control," she said of the state's handling of Social Security numbers. The numbers are easily obtained by the private sector, which then can gain access to financial, medical and other personal information, she said.
Sinks said Georgia officials cannot determine how much money is involved in voter registration list sales because the transactions are handled at the local level.
Neal Menkes, a manager in Virginia's Department of Planning and Budget, said the state elections board took in $111,000 from the sale of voter lists in the fiscal year that ended June 30. He said the state only recovers its costs and does not make a profit.
Greidinger, 29, has not voted in the past three elections because he refused to list his Social Security number.
"I've spoken to a few people who would like to stop their number from being made public, but I'm not aware of anyone else who has refused to register to vote based on this principle," he said. "I hope this will help people feel more comfortable about participating in the electoral process."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.