They agreed to serve, now their personal information has been leaked

Three Washington Park residents who will be new election judges in Precinct 3 on Nov. 8 are upset that someone leaked their private information, including cell phone and Social Security numbers, out into the public and that it could fall into the wrong hands.

The St. Clair County Clerk’s office sent the information to Mayor Ann Rodgers at her request. Rodgers, in turn, included the information in the packets to village board members. No one knows what happened after that.

“As a public official, we all have to be more cautious in handling very private and personal matters of everyone and especially non-elected individuals. Identity theft is one of the most devastating and fastest-spreading crimes today,” County Clerk Tom Holbrook wrote in a letter to Rodgers. “Please cease and desist from any further spreading of documents given to you by our office that contain personal information. Our office will be more diligent in the future also.”

Emma Barnes, Lawrence Alls and Princess Blanchard are the election judges chosen by the Democratic Party for Precinct 3, which is where Rodgers is the Democratic precinct committeewoman.

Rodgers said she was unaware the judges had been changed by the party, and questioned why the change was made. She asked Holbrook to provide the information to her.

“When another level of government requests information, we provide it. The mayor, who is the election precinct committeeman, asked for that information, and we sent it to her. We exchange information with government entities on a daily basis, with sensitive information included,” Holbrook said. He said his office released the election judges document only to Rodgers.

Neither Robert Sprague, the St. Clair County Democratic Party chairman, nor other party members could be reached to comment on who changed the judges in Precinct 3, and why.

Holbrook said whoever leaked the information was “completely out of line and violated public trust.”

“I can’t tell you how it got out or where. But it upsets me greatly,” he said.

Rodgers said she learned on July 19 that the county had changed the election judges without her knowledge.

“It was a political move. For the last five years I have had the same judges ... Sabrina Murphy, Eleanor Hopkins, Chandra Rodgers,” Rodgers said. Chandra Rodgers said she is related to Ann Rodgers, but would not say how.

“I received a call from the county about the new election judges form. That individual told me my name was not on the form in the space where precinct committeeman chairman goes. The precinct committeeman chooses their election judges. I was not aware of any changes.”

Rodgers admitted sharing the election form document with the other Washington Park board members. “It was a conversation piece. We have a code of confidentiality,” she said.

The document was never intended to be out in the public, Rodgers said.

One of the election judges learned by another resident that the information was out on the street.

Rodgers said she does not know for sure who put the information out but said she suspects it was Washington Park Village Clerk Ricky Thomas, her political adversary. Thomas denied the accusation.

“Mayor Rodgers put the document with everyone’s Social Security numbers and personal information (in the packets). She wrote on the document, ‘Ricky, I did not approve of this (the change in judges) and signed her name to it.’ That information had nothing to do with the village of Washington Park government. That was an election matter with the election board,” Thomas said.

“Unfortunately Mayor Rodgers didn’t know that. She compromised those people’s information when she did that. In my opinion that was her creating the atmosphere for identity theft,” he said.

Thomas emphasized he did not leak the document and had no reason to do so.

Barnes, one of the judges, said Rodgers is responsible because the information was faxed to her. It was her duty to protect their sensitive information.

Alls, another election judge, said, “I trusted that information wouldn’t be made public. I have the same papers that the judges have. My major concern is, I worked a couple of elections there and I have witnessed some of the corruption that goes on there. I would have thought the mayor would have been professional enough to block out our Social Security numbers if she was going to share our names with other board members. I didn’t think that anyone would have this information in their hands. I was speechless when I found out about this.”

Alls discovered that the information had been leaked out at a supermarket. “I am disappointed in the mayor. The people who I have seen doing corrupt stuff actually work for her,” Alls said.

Barnes said someone handed her a balled up piece of paper at a local grocery store. She opened it when she got into her car and saw it was the election judge form with all of her personal information on it.

Blanchard, the third judge, said, “We’ve been going back and forth about it. We’ve been talking to different agencies and are being told that it is OK. It is not OK and if my son were to do this to someone, he would have been arrested. Everybody has to follow the same law,” she said.

Holbrook said he reported the incident to St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, who could not be reached for comment.

“I am very private with my information. I have siblings who don’t know my Social Security number. My number should have been blocked out. She should not have had my cell phone number or Social Security number. That’s my problem with the county. I was told that she (Rodgers), as an elected official, is privy to that information,” Blanchard said.

“I am doing my own research. If that is the case, it needs to be changed,” Blanchard said. “My problem with the mayor is once she obtained this information, she distributed it. I am hearing that she said she only released this information to trustees, I do not believe this because I obtained a copy of it. And, why would she release my information to the trustees anyway?”

“Blanchard also wants to know why information was only leaked on precinct three and not others. “Why would you target a certain group of people and not everybody. I don’t appreciate her claiming to be the victim, I am. Her social is not floating around mine is,” Blanchard said.

Blanchard said she received a call from Rodgers that she felt was intimidating.

“She said I was not a judge for the November election. She told me she had the same judges for the last five years, and that I was not an election judge for the upcoming election,” she said. Rodgers denies this claim.

Rodgers said she has had conversations with Blanchard and Alls. She didn’t go into detail regarding the conversation. But she said the real question is, “How did we get here? This was and is about the election judges being changed.”

Barnes said even if Rodgers wanted to share the names of the new election judges with village trustees, her personal information should not have been left on the form for anyone to see and use inappropriately if they choose to do so. She said she is looking into whether she can take legal action.

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 10:58 AM with the headline "They agreed to serve, now their personal information has been leaked."