When you register to vote, you might think your information goes straight to the government. But if you register through a volunteer effort, that may not always be the case.
In many cases, volunteers collect contact information from your registration card and use it to get in touch with you later. As long as the person collecting the voter registration card is not employed by a state agency and only collects information that is considered public, the practice is not only legal, it’s common.
In past voter registration drives at the University, student volunteers gathering registration cards would compile voter contact information from the card and give it the Oregon Student Association, which often managed the drives. OSA used that information to contact voters and remind them to cast their ballots.
But this year, OSA won’t be getting that information.
Questions of student privacy and legal gray areas caused ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz to deny OSA’s request to access copies of voter registration cards, which the ASUO says it keeps in order to track how many people register.
“We absolutely will not send copies of voter registration cards to any off-campus organization,” Dotters-Katz said.
The OSA collects the name, address, e-mail and phone number from voter registration cards and uses that information to contact people and remind them to vote. The process is extremely common and used by many voter registration efforts across the country.
“Our entire goal is to make sure we’re actually turning out the students we’re registering to vote,” said Tamara Henderson, executive director of OSA.
But Dotters-Katz is still uncomfortable with that.
The ASUO’s copies of the cards, which have driver’s license and Social Security numbers blocked off, will be used for tallying purposes at the end of the drive. Once the drive is over and any questions regarding the numbers they registered have been assuaged, the cards will be destroyed, Dotters-Katz said.
WHERE DOES YOUR INFO GO?….If you decide to register with an ASUO volunteer: 1) The volunteer takes your voter registration card to the ASUO office. 2) The volunteer who collected your card copies it, blocking off your driver’s license and Social Security numbers. 3) The voter registration card is placed into a lock-box in the ASUO office until the cards are delivered to Lane County Elections that evening. Lane County Elections places your information into a state voter registration database. 4) The copy of the card is placed in a filing cabinet in the ASUO office. The cabinet is locked at night. 5) At the end of the ASUO Registration drive, the copies will be counted for a final tally of the ASUO’s efforts, then destroyed. …If you register with Lane County Elections Office: 1) It goes into the state’s voter registration database. Your address and party affiliation is public record, meaning anyone can access it. |
A RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Up until late last week, Dotters-Katz didn’t know OSA wanted the copies. OSA’s desire to collect the copies was revealed to Dotters-Katz during a conversation with OSA Director Henderson about whether UO Club Sports volunteers would have to complete a Voter Registration Tracking Form that all Student Vote Coalition volunteers fill out. Club Sports volunteers were registering voters on behalf of ASUO, and Dotters-Katz didn’t want to burden the Club Sports volunteers with the formal tracking sheets.
The SVC and OSA use the tracking forms to coordinate their volunteer efforts. The form tracks information such as the type of volunteer effort, the location the volunteer worked in, and the number of votes he or she collected.
They agreed that Club Sports volunteers would fill out a simpler version of the tracking sheets, though Dotters-Katz was upset the OSA began using the simpler sheets without first showing them to him.
Dotters-Katz became wary of the process and, along with some student volunteers, approached Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes to discuss the issue.
THE LEGAL GRAY AREA
During the conversations with Holmes, questions arose about whether it is legal for the ASUO to give the cards to OSA at all.
According to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, state agents cannot give away information they have collected to anyone, regardless of whether the information is considered public knowledge.
Because the University, of which the ASUO is a part, is a state agency, the ASUO could potentially be considered a state agency as well, making it a violation of FERPA to give the copies to OSA.
“I think saddling the burden of maintaining confidential information on the students is highly problematic,” Holmes said. She brought the issue before the University general counsel, who suggested the ASUO proceed cautiously.
Despite the concerns, Dotters-Katz said he wants students to be able to trust the ASUO, and keeping the copies in the office should maintain that trust.
He also said he was willing to take responsibility for hindering the registration drive’s efforts.
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