Secretary of State's Office apologizes for identifying welfare recipients

Monae Johnson takes responsibility for release as office asks people to delete registry

The Secretary of State’s Office apologized Friday for unintentionally releasing the identities of people potentially on government assistance programs, a violation of federal and state privacy laws.

The information was included when Johnson’s office sought to comply with a new state law requiring the secretary of state to make the statewide voter registration list available to the public free of charge and accessible via her office’s web site. Previously, the list was available but at a price.

County auditors were also required to make their voter files accessible to the public.