The State of Kentucky has pulled out of the Interstate Crosscheck System , Gizmodo has learned , making it the eighth state to quit the broadcast so far — even though it cost nothing to enter .
A source with lineal knowledge of the decision told Gizmodo that Kentucky never used the data point that it received from Crosscheck for the purpose of purging elector roll because the data point was “ treacherous . ” Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes also expressed concern about the security of the course of study , the source say .
Kentucky officially depart Crosscheck in June but made no official announcement at the time . A tweet by Grimes last hebdomad about Kentucky not submitting elector data to Crosscheck ab initio pose activists who were unaware of the United States Department of State ’s decision .
Wow . Another example of why KY does n’t participate in KS#Crosscheckprogram & did n’t turn over KYians ’ voter data to the#ShamVotingCommission!https://t.co / O2EvbetrrV
— Alison Lundergan Grimes ( @AlisonForKY)January 26 , 2018
Kentucky joined the program under the old secretarial assistant of state , Trey Grayson , chiefly because it was free . The data point returned by Crosscheck , however , contain mostly mistaken positive degree . “ On the Earth’s surface of it , it sounds like an okay thing to do , ” the germ suppose . “ But then you begin take part , and the data is not utile . ”
The program , run by the Kansas Secretary of State ’s office , is mean to serve distinguish people file to vote in multiple states . When someone move to a new country and register to vote there , for good example , their sometime registration does n’t mechanically vanish . But for every multi - registrant distinguish , Crosscheck generates hundreds of false positive , according toa studylast class by researcher at Stanford , Harvard , Yale , the University of Pennsylvania , and Microsoft .
This wrongdoing pace means a tidy sum of workplace for the state participating in Crosscheck to key voter sham — finding existent multi - registrants is akin line up the proverbial needle in a rick . Further , relying on the information increase betting odds that licitly registered voters will be mistakenly purged from voter rolls — particularly if no additional steps are contract to verify the state in which the voter presently lives .
For the purpose of identifying a singular voter , youneed more than just a name and date of birth ; however , many states are hesitating to reverse over additional voter data to Crosscheck , which has earned a reputation for improperly handling sore data . Several states do , however , let in partial Social Security issue for voter whose gens and birthday match those of elector in other states .
Earlier this calendar month , reports revealed thatnearly 1,000 Kansansidentified by Crosscheck had the last four finger’s breadth of their Social Security number expose in Florida , and othervoter file and the passwords to decrypt themfell into the deal of unauthorized third party last fall .
In 2014 , the Virginia State Board of Elections accidentally mail Kansas the first four digits of voters ’ Social Security numbers rather of the last four digits . In the same twelvemonth , Idaho official were tell to call off registrations of potential multi - registrant , only to be inform a month after that education was given in wrongdoing . States have routinely download the wrong voter files or erroneously cancel files intended for other state to download .
Passwords to decrypt elector files have been leaked on multiple occasions , as have certificate granting access code to the Crosscheck servers that host them .
Last calendar week , Gizmodoreportedthat Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach ’s federal agency had , for years , made uncommitted online records containing the fond Social Security numbers of grand of elect officials and res publica employees . After Gizmodo said it intended to cover on the database , Kobach pulled it offline , yet his office insisted that he had been required by legal philosophy to print it in the first place .
Alaska , Florida , Washington , Massachusetts , New York , Oregon and Pennsylvania all antecedently participate in the free program but likewise pulled out . Bills currently in theNew HampshireandIllinoislegislatures would , if hand , require state officials to withdraw from Crosscheck . In Kansas , where Crosscheck is run , a bipartisan pecker acknowledge as the Free State Elections Act was introduce this calendar week and would end its involution .
In anonline surveylast year , a New York official write that when using Crosscheck “ there was no guarantee [ Social Security numbers ] would be secret and majority of phonograph recording were inaccurate . ” An official from Connecticut , which does not participate in the program , wrote : “ Have been advised by some body politic who have participated that the selective information provided is labor - intensive and unreliable . ”
A Maryland functionary plainly wrote about the program : “ A waste of time . ”
As many as 23 state are recruit in a standardized syllabus for elector roll maintenance run by ERIC , the Electronic Registration Information Center . However , the program , which has not suffered repeated security incidents and the methodology of which is deliberate far more accurate , is not innocent .
Annual fees alter , but ERIC ’s one - time $ 25,000 fee is what drive many states to the Crosscheck program in the first position . In Kentucky , the Secretary of State ’s federal agency is barely receive enough money from the cosmopolitan assemblage to full recoup counties for election disbursal , beginning said , much less wage for involution in ERIC .
Correction : A previous interlingual rendition of this article put forward that an Illinois functionary had expressed concern in a survey over Crosscheck potentially leaking Social Security digits . The official was from New York . Illinois launch the survey . We rue the computer error .
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