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Voter information left exposed, researcher finds

By Shawn Price

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- More than 191 million voters' registration information has been left exposed on an open database, a security researcher has found.

The names, addresses, phone numbers, party affiliation and whether people voted in elections back to 2000 were recently found by researcher Chris Vickery. He said the information was easy to access and completely open.

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The data was only voter registration based, however, and did not contain social security or driver's license numbers, or bank account information. Nevertheless, the breach still poses a threat to voter privacy.

Though Vickery told Databreaches.net he verified the information as authentic, 191 million actually exceeds the current number of 142.2 million registered U.S. voters, 2014 U.S. Census Bureau data indicate.

The owner of the database has not been established, and the FBI and the California State Attorney General's office were contacted to help in the search.

In most states, voter registration lists are public record, even if many states restrict how the data can be used, but in California, it is confidential.

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