Department of State Admits Getting and Using Voters’ Digital and Personal Information from Other Government Agencies, Diamond Says

HARRISBURG – During Wednesday’s House State Government Committee hearing on election readiness, Jonathan Marks, deputy secretary of elections and commissions, Pennsylvania Department of State, told Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) that the Wolf administration is gleaning cell phone numbers and email address from other departments of state government for the purpose of urging them to register for a mail-in ballot and other election activities.

“I want to thank Deputy Secretary Marks for his candor and clarity and note that he does not make these policies,” Diamond said. “But I have a real problem with information folks are compelled to provide for PennDOT and SNAP services being shared for the purpose of the state providing mail-in ballots that have not even been requested and urging voter turnout that may not be evenly applied.”

Diamond explained to Marks that election officials and constituents believed their voter information was protected and have complained to him about getting text messages and emails from the state regarding mail-in ballots. 

“We want to make sure we are reaching the largest number of voters irrespective of their political affiliation, so we use information from other agencies so we can do that outreach,” Marks testified.

Video of the question and answer session is can be found in the video section of RepDiamond.com or here.