What has been called a mistake during a move to new a Fulton County Elections Division warehouse led to more than 30 boxes of voter registration applications cards and other documents ending up in a dumpster. An official with the elections division said the accidental disposal of approximately 75,000 previously processed voter-related documents should not pose a threat to theft of personal identity of the applicants. Meanwhile, a war of words appears to be erupting over the incident.

The Secretary of State's Office of the Inspector General, acting on a call from a concerned citizen, recovered more than 30 boxes of voter registration application cards, voter precinct cards, and other forms and documents from a south Atlanta dumpster Monday evening, according to Secretary of State and former Fulton County Commission Chairman Karen Handel.

The boxes containing voter-related documents were mistakenly thrown in a dumpster by an elections division employee during the time documents were being transferred from an old warehouse facility to a new one, county Registration Chief John Sullivan said Thursday. Though an embarrassment to the division, the recovery of the documents should negate the chance that records containing names, addresses and Social Security numbers had fallen into the hands of identity thieves, Sullivan said.

Whether an unfortunate mistake with no harm done, the former Fulton County Commission Chairman had a markedly different view of the matter.

"This represents a significant and serious breach of the personal information of Fulton County voters and an outrageous violation of the trust and integrity of Fulton County's elections," Handel said in an April 11 statement. "Additionally, because this breach also creates serious concerns about the overall operations of the Fulton County Elections Office, we will conduct an independent audit of the office to examine its policies and procedures, particularly the maintenance and security of records and information."

Handel also asked Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves to immediately begin contacting all Fulton County voters of the potential exposure of their personal information.

Handel’s statements got a quick response from Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections Chair Juanita Eber who, in an April 12 letter to Handel, said the board was cooperating with the investigation and requested that further communication on the issue go directly to the Registration and Elections Board. Eber also made reference to Handel’s statement about the “integrity” of the upcoming elections in June.

“This incident poses no threat to that election. All voter registration information has been scanned and exists in our database. Hopefully, your comments regarding the June election were due to you not being aware of that important safeguard in our system,” Eber said. “We will be better served, including the electorate, if we refrain from rhetoric about the potential future consequences of this situation until these investigations run their course and all the facts are known.”

Fulton County voters can visit www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft to obtain more information about protecting themselves from potential identity theft.

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