RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, on August 18, 2017, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners disclosed that the information of 1.8 million Chicago registered voters became available in an unsecured website called Amazon Web Services; and
WHEREAS, the Election Systems and Software Company, the subcontractor that helps maintain
Chicago's poll books, was registered as the user who uploaded the records; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners stated that they were unaware of the data security breach and only became aware after a cybersecurity expert from the California firm UpGuard reported the availability of the files on Amazon Web Services; and
WHEREAS, the Election Systems and Software Company issued a press release detailing that 1.8 million names, addresses, dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers, and in some cases, driver's license and state identification card numbers were visible during the breach, however, they did not detail who, if anyone, accessed the files nor did the company offer remedies to those whose information was exposed; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners has not issued its own press release or report ofthe incident and has not expressed whether those affected have received notices via written or electronic means within 45 days of the breach as required by 815 ILCS 530/10; and
WHEREAS, residents face uncertainty and concern due to the lack of direction received from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners as to what measures they should take to protect themselves; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO: That the Executive Director and the Chair of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners appear before the City Council Committee on Finance to address the data security breach that caused sensitive information pertaining to Chicago's 1.8 million registered voters to be published online for an unknown period of time and to identify the measures being taken to remedy and p...
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