SBE inadvertently shares Va state registered voter list

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Department of Elections disclosed Friday afternoon that over a month ago it “inadvertently” shared the state’s registered voter list, which contains personal identifying information, with an unnamed individual.

The person with whom the file was shared March 6 contacted the department, and the “data was destroyed in accordance with state policy,” the department said in a statement. There is no indication it was further shared or downloaded, the statement said.

“The incident was caused by human error and there is no reason to believe that the disclosed data will be used for fraudulent purposes,” the statement said.

The file was shared with the unnamed person after the person initially requested vote history data for a specific district.

The department said it followed procedures for “evaluation and disclosure of the incident to law enforcement” and that the Office of the State Inspector General conducted an investigation.