FEMA voter data dispute

According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, a Louisiana court has ruled that candidates there may not have access to FEMA registries of displaced residents who may also be voters:

Two New Orleans lawmakers do not have the right to obtain the Federal Emergency Management Agency's list of addresses for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina, a state district court judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge William Morvant said that because the list is not a public record, the state does not have an obligation to hand over the information. In a hearing at the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, Morvant said that because the list is derived from applications for FEMA assistance, the people on it have an expectation that their information will be kept private under federal privacy laws.

Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of New Orleans state Reps. Charmaine Marchand and Cedric Richmond, both Democrats, said he expects to take the issue to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. The lawmakers say the list is necessary so candidates for public office can send campaign material to registered voters.

"You can't have an election. No rational people believe you can have a public election with private voting rolls," Fields said after the hearing. The municipal primary in New Orleans is scheduled for April 22; the mayor, City Council members and others are up for election.

According to the article, the Louisiana Secretary of State has obtained the list from FEMA and sent out absentee voting information, but there are concerns about mail delays.

It's a tough call. The expectation of privacy is a good argument. You wouldn't want FEMA giving the list to marketing companies seeking to exploit evacuees. On the other hand, "private" voter registration doesn't seem very "democracy-like", and candidates are dependent on access to voter registration data to run their campaigns.

At least the Secretary of State has made an effort to reach voters. Going forward, it would seem like a good idea for FEMA to have set rules and procedures for keeping up with voters and coordinating with state election officials to keep voter registration databases up to date.

There was also some proposed legislation a while back addressing absentee voting for Katrina evacuees, but like much of the recovery effort it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.