Alberta Temporarily Changes Voter List Rules After Privacy Breach

Alberta’s government has temporarily changed the rules governing the province’s voter lists following a privacy breach.

Under the new policy, the official voter lists provided to political parties will contain only the number of voters in each voting area and municipality. Previously, the lists included registered voters’ names, home addresses, phone numbers and other personal information.

Elections Alberta shared the lists with political parties, MLAs and candidates for purposes such as election campaigning and fundraising.

The changes follow the public release of a database containing the personal information of nearly three million Albertans by a separatist group. An investigation found that the database was linked to a copy of a voter list provided to a small political party.

The temporary policy will remain in effect until the end of this year. Justice Minister Mickey Amery’s office says the government plans to introduce new legislation this fall to ensure stronger protection of Albertans’ personal information.