O'Keefe has another bogus video out claiming that Battleground Texas is violating the law by copying phone numbers from voter registration applications. I am not providing a link to the right wing sources citing this video because I do not want to give these sites any traffic. Some of the normal right wing nut job sites are making a big deal about this O'Keefe video including the freepers.
I am deputy voter registrar for my county and have attended a number of trainings by by the state party and my county election office. The claims by O'Keefe are bogus. Under Texas law, the phone number of an applicant is not confidential. Here the relevant Texas law from Texas Election Code Section 103.004(c)
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/EL/htm/EL.13.htm
(c) The following information furnished on a registration application is confidential and does not constitute public information for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code:
(1) a social security number;
(2) a Texas driver's license number;
(3) a number of a personal identification card issued by the Department of Public Safety;
(4) an indication that an applicant is interested in working as an election judge; or
(5) the residence address of the applicant, if the applicant is a federal judge or state judge, as defined by Section 13.0021, or the spouse of a federal judge or state judge, and included an affidavit with the registration application under Section 13.0021 or the registrar has received an affidavit submitted under Section 15.0215.
The part of the voter registration application with the confidential information is at the top and it is easy to put a cover page over a copier that allows one to copy the non-confidential information on a voter registration application. The telephone number of a potential voter is not part of the confidential information that is protected.
There is another code section that the O'Keefe idiots are misreading. Section 103.004(d) of the Texas election code provides that the county clerk or election administrator can not publish on the website a telephone number.
d) The voter registrar or other county official who has access to the information furnished on a registration application may not post the following information on a website:
(1) a telephone number;
(2) a social security number;
(3) a driver's license number or a number of a personal identification card;
(4) a date of birth; or
(5) the residence address of a voter who is a federal judge or state judge, as defined by Section 13.0021, or the spouse of a federal judge or state judge, if the voter included an affidavit with the application under Section 13.0021 or the registrar has received an affidavit submitted under Section 15.0215.
The deputy voter registrars who are with Battleground Texas are not posting on the Secretary of State or county website the information. The data in question is not being published anywhere.
I have been at training sessions by the state party and all democratic voter registrars know what to copy and what is confidential under Texas law.
If you see the latest O'Keefe video please ignore it or post the code section that shows that O'keefe is lying about Texas election law.