Voter registration website (West Virginia Secretary Of State Elections Division)
| Multi Request | Voter registration website |
| Submitted | Oct. 13, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Jason Koebler
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
A series of voter registration website outages have made national news in recent weeks:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/935em3/severed-internet-cable-breaks-virginia-voter-registration-portal-on-deadline-day
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/06/920774701/florida-governor-extends-deadline-after-voter-registration-site-crashes
Therefore, I request the following information:
- Contracts, plans, RFPs, and underlying information about the design of online voter registration systems
- Presentations and emails regarding these systems
- Any disaster recovery / backup plans / failsafes for voter registration databases and registration websites or emails/plans/RFPs/presentations regarding this
- Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity contracts, plans, RFPs, presentations for voter registration websites and databases
- Any cybersecurity audits/penetration test reports / RFPs and contracts regarding online voter registration systems
Please search from Jan 1, 2018 until the day this request is processed.
These documents will be used for reporting on Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech website (www.motherboard.vice.com)
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jason Koebler
From: West Virginia Secretary of State
Mr. Koebler,
The West Virginia Secretary of State's Office received five (5) separate copies of your attached FOIA request within the past 48 hours. Thank you for making sure we received it. In the future, if you are concerned about whether we received your request, you may call our office at (304) 558-6000. You can also submit your FOIA request through our online portal, which doesn't require the use of a FAX, at the following link: http://apps.sos.wv.gov/FOIARequests/Requests
Your request is wholly denied pursuant to W. Va. Code ยง 29B-1-4(a)(10), (13), and (14). Specifically, voter registration systems, communications regarding those systems, response plans, data, vulnerability assessments, continuity of operations plans, and system security information are protected critical infrastructure and exempt from public disclosure.
If you'd like to have a conversation about how the State of West Virginia is prepared for various situations pertaining to protecting our critical elections infrastructure, such as the one you referenced that occurred recently in our neighboring state Virginia, please reach out to Mike Queen our communications director at MQueen@wvsos.com<mailto:MQueen@wvsos.com> to set up a call with our Elections Division Director or IT division. We will be happy to discuss some of these matters, but cannot turn over protected information regarding critical infrastructure.
Should you disagree with this decision you may contact the undersigned or otherwise file an action in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County in Charleston, WV.
Sincerely,
Donald M. Kersey, III
General Counsel
West Virginia Secretary of State's Office
304-558-6000<tel:(304)%20558-6000> (Office)
304-368-6344 (Direct Dial)
304-558-0900 (Fax)
Email correspondence to and from this email address is subject to the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act and may be disclosed, in whole or in part, to third parties by an authorized State official. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. Unauthorized disclosure of health, legally privileged, or otherwise confidential information, is prohibited by law. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all records of this email.
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