Fulton County

Fulton poll worker says firing over information breach was in retaliation, lack of security

ATLANTA — A worker who emailed sensitive voter information to an unauthorized person no longer has a job with the county.

The man who received the information said he was stunned when he opened the email and saw it.

Terry Stidom told Channel 2′s Tom Jones that he thinks the county retaliated against him because he raised a stink about this.

Stidom said he couldn’t believe it when he opened the email and saw what was inside.

“I was stunned. I was utterly flabbergasted,” Stidom said.

He told Jones that he was floored when he got an email from the Fulton County elections office that was filled with the personal information of thousands of voters.

Stidom said the “names, addresses, date of birth, social security numbers” and email addresses of voters were all sent to him.

The emails also contained other pertinent information.

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Stidom said he was hired to be a Fulton County poll worker and was asked by an elections official to fill out an application and a waiver.

He was asked to sign a waiver because he didn’t live in the county.

He said when he opened the email for the application and waiver, he saw the sensitive personal info.

Stidom said he asked the worker who sent him the info to alert her supervisor. He said she refused.

That’s when he began contacting higher-ups.

Stidom said he soon got a call from the elections director letting him know his services would no longer be needed.

He thinks it was retaliation.

“There is absolutely no question ... that it was retaliation,” Stidom said.

The county addressed the situation in a statement Friday afternoon:

“Fulton County election officials have learned of an incident in which personally identifiable information was shared with an individual outside the organization in violation of Fulton County policy.

“Upon learning of the incident, officials immediately launched an investigation. Preliminary results indicate that this was an isolated incident that appears to be the result of human error. The individual responsible for the incident no longer works with Fulton County.

“Fulton County is committed to the safety and security of all citizens and employees. Each individual affected by this incident will be notified and will receive credit monitoring services.”

Stidom said the fact this happened speaks to the lack of security measures in place to protect the integrity of the political process.

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