Mississippi's secretary of state is upholding his vow to protect voter information. As MPB's Alexis Ware reports some say the information is already exposed.
Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is maintaining his statement that he will not share Mississippi voter information with an election commission appointed by President Trump. Democratic State Representative Jay Hughes says Hosemann's statement is misleading to the public as some voter information is already shared. Hosemann disagrees.
"Nobody has Mississippi's voter records but the Secretary of State's office."
Mississippi is included in the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. Thirty states send voter information to a secure database to monitor if people are registered in more than one state.
Secretary of State Hosemann says this does not put Mississippians at risk.
"Our information is matched on a secure site with another one and after the matching it is destroyed and that process has worked for a number of years with very careful security protocols."
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is on the presidential election commission and leads the Crosscheck Program. Kobach is asking states for voter information, including birthdates. He has said he would release the information publicly.
Representative Hughes says the crosscheck database compromises the privacy of voters.
"Those states shared with us and we shared with them all of those people with similar names their home address, their date of birth, the last four of their social security number, when they registered to vote and when the last time they voted. I think it is a real issue."
The federal panel overseeing the election probe has asked states to hold off on submitting voter information because of a pending lawsuit.
