Board, Lautenschlager to Talk with Company
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 7, 2005
By Patrick Marley
Madison - The state Elections Board and Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager on Monday reached a deal to negotiate jointly with a contractor on privacy matters for the statewide voter list.
Lautenschlager looked into the board's contract with Accenture to create a voter database after receiving complaints about the deal. Under federal law, by Jan. 1, the board for the first time must maintain a statewide voter list.
Under the agreement, the Justice Department will assist the board in negotiating with Accenture on privacy matters, ensuring that the company and its subcontractors cannot copy information about voters while Accenture builds the database. Accenture and the subcontractors would be barred from using or selling any data about voters.
A rival company, Wisconsin Voters List, asked Lautenschlager last year to investigate whether the board violated the state's open records law.
In a letter to the board Monday, Assistant Attorney General Monica Burkert-Brist says the board had fulfilled all requests for information.
Last year, Wisconsin Voters List joined Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) and others in suing the board, saying it had not followed the law in signing the Accenture contract. Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust ruled last week that the board acted properly.
