Scope of access to leaked Alberta voter list may be incomplete: Elections Alberta

Elections Alberta says the Centurion Project may not have shared who accessed a leaked voter list and could face legal consequences.

Elections Alberta says the separatist group at the centre of a massive voter information breach may not have shared the full list of individuals who accessed its public database.

The group, called the Centurion Project, created an app containing the names and addresses of nearly three million Albertans, which Elections Alberta traced back to an official voter list the group shouldn’t have had.

The agency has said the list was originally given to the pro-Independence Republican Party of Alberta.

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The leak is the subject of three separate investigations by Elections Alberta, RCMP and the provincial privacy commissioner.

Elections Alberta previously said it sent 566 cease-and-desist letters to people the Centurion Project identified as accessing the list while the website was active, with 21 people having full copies of the list.

A spokesperson for the agency, Michelle Gurney, said Wednesday it’s looking into the possibility that the group didn’t provide a complete list, as ordered by a judge.

“We have received information that suggests Centurion did not fully comply with the injunction and has provided an incomplete list of people who accessed the Centurion database,” Gurney said.

“We have contacted Centurion and will take further legal action as necessary.”

Two reporters with The Canadian Press accessed the public database the same day the court ordered it be taken down and elections officials and RCMP announced investigations.

One of the two reporters did not receive a cease-and-desist letter and last week informed Elections Alberta of the discrepancy.

The Centurion Project, led by longtime Alberta political organizer David Parker, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

• READ MORE: Separatist leader behind voter list leak not co-operating: Elections Alberta

The group has said the goal of the app was to more easily identify and recruit supporters of separatism ahead of an expected fall referendum.

It also said the database was provided by an unnamed third party. The Republican Party has denied any wrongdoing.

Elections Alberta and Parker have been at odds, as the agency said Tuesday that he hasn’t been co-operative with its investigation.

As part of the cease-and-desist letter sent to Parker, Elections Alberta requested he sign a sworn statement declaring he would stop using the voter list. The agency said Parker had yet to do so.

Chad Williamson, a lawyer for Parker, said the demand for a sworn statement amounts to an “unconstitutional trap” and that’s why his client refused to sign it.

“In plain terms, the state is attempting to use civil proceedings to compel sworn evidence from a citizen while a penal investigation is actively underway,.”

He said he doesn’t represent the Centurion Project and couldn’t comment on the list it provided to Elections Alberta about who accessed the app.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters he wouldn’t be surprised if the list the group gave Elections Alberta is incomplete.

“They relied on the people who are not co-operating to provide them that list. They have no idea if that list is full, if it’s accurate, or if it’s missing people,” Nenshi said.

“We have at least one case of someone who didn’t get the cease-and-desist note, which means it’s not accurate.”

“Frankly those numbers felt a little low to me when I heard them.”

Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press