Georgia voters concerned after data posted online

ATLANTA - Voters have expressed serious concerns after discovering the information of nearly 300,000 Georgians was posted publicly online.

"Anybody could've downloaded this," said Grayson resident Stewart Marlow.

Marlow said he went to the Secretary of State's absentee ballot data page Wednesday evening after seeing someone post online about the release of voter information. He did not believe it was true until he saw it for himself and downloaded the spreadsheet full of names, addresses and even information about why voters requested to vote by mail. Many of them are listed as "elderly" or "disabled."

"I'm not a hacker or anything. I didn't have to go in and do elaborate schemes to get the information it was right on their website with a 'click here' to get it," said Marlow. "It just scares me that it has elderly people's information on there."

The list even includes several people he knows, Marlow added.

"When I tell them, they're shocked," he said.

The link and list disappeared from the site shortly after Marlow downloaded it. There is no word on how long it was online.

The information, however, is still available on the site, along with several other years of data on a less public page.

According to state law, the names of voters "shall be available for public inspection."

Marlow said he understands the need for public access to some information, however, does not think it should be so readily accessible online.

"The Secretary of State's Office is reviewing that. That's what they're there for to make sure there's no voter fraud," said Marlow. "So, I don't see why anybody in the public space should be reviewing that."

FOX 5 made multiple requests to the Secretary of State's Office for an on-the-record comment about the data, but they have not yet provided one.