Rep. Greg Harris Calls on State Board of Elections to Withdraw from Crosscheck Voter Database

CHICAGO – Citing concerns regarding data security and voter suppression, Assistant Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, issued the following statement urging the Illinois State Board of Elections to withdraw from the controversial Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck System (“Crosscheck”):

“Recent findings from Indivisible Chicago have discovered an alarming the lack of proper security measures for the Crosscheck program. Illinois voters’ personal information is being uploaded to an unencrypted server—putting all registered voters in Illinois at risk of falling victim to identity theft. Additionally, the administrators of Crosscheck have engaged in extremely negligent security practices. They have used easily guessed passwords, have sent passwords and usernames on unsecure emails, and even released sensitive, un-redacted personal voter information to the public.

“The administrators of Crosscheck are engaging in the exact same negligent security practices that led to the massive data breach at Equifax. We can’t sit idly by while the personal information of every Illinois resident is at risk of being hacked because of lax security practices.

“In addition to data security concerns, Crosscheck has repeatedly falsely flagged citizens as duplicate voters. Recent studies have shown Crosscheck results are 99.5% false positives, which runs the risk of suppressing turnout by incorrectly kicking legitimate voters off the rolls.

“Even more concerning is Crosscheck program’s head administrator, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a right-wing ideologue who has made a career out of suppressing voter turnout, particularly in minority communities. Kobach’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. He has been tapped as the vice-chairman of the new Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, Donald Trump’s pet project aimed at suppressing voter turnout nationwide.

“The time to act is now. I strongly encourage the State Board of Elections to withdraw from this program that has placed the identity of Illinois voters at risk and threatens to substantially suppress the right to vote for thousands of Illinois residents.”