A lot of literature makes the point that voter lists can be used for re-identification. However, the accuracy of this statement will depend on your jurisdiction.
In the US many states make their voter lists available for free or for a small fee. Often there are few restrictions on what that information can be used for. The voter list would contain the name and address of voters, as well as their gender and date of birth. Some will contain additional information such as political affiliation.
The situation is quite different in Canada. It is not that easy to get voter lists in Canada, and legally, they can only be used for the purpose of elections and election related activities. However, there have been cases of volunteers in election campaigns, who use voter lists for canvassing, keeping the voter lists afterwards and making them available to third parties. This is exemplified by the following articles on how a charity allegedly supporting a terrorist organization obtained voter lists from volunteers:
- Bell S. Alleged LTTE front had voter lists. National Post. July 22, 2006.
- Bell S. Privacy chief probes how group got voter lists. National Post. July 25, 2006.
- Freeze C, Clark C. Voters lists 'most disturbing' items seized in Tamil raids, documents say. Globe and Mail, May 7, 2008.
Often volunteers do not have to sign confidentiality agreements. Although, organizations like Elections Canada are trying to tighten this process up.
Another way to get access to a voter list in Canada, instead of volunteering or chasing down volunteers, is to become a candidate yourself. This is quite easy to do. For example, becoming a provincial election candidate costs $500 in Alberta, $100 in BC, $100 and nominations by 25 electors in New Brunswick, $100 in Ontario, and $0 in Quebec but it requires nominations by 100 electors. Although legally, once a candidate obtains the voter list, it cannot be used for re-identification purposes.
Another important point is that Canadian voter lists do not contain the date of birth, which makes them of limited value for re-identification by themselves. However, when combined with other sources of public information they can still be very useful for re-identification even without the date of birth.
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