Privacy Concerns Raised about voters lists

Some people are very concerned about revealing any information about themselves but as the article notes one could refuse enumeration and then just present identification at the polling place. However, the information is rather minimal IMHO. If anyone really wanted it they could get it from phone books and the like.
It is not as if they are asking for you credit card number or whatever. The info is very helpful and necessary for parties it seems to me. You need them to

Privacy concerns raised about voters lists
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 | 12:36 PM CT
CBC News
With the provincial election a week away, some Saskatchewan voters are voicing privacy concerns about the enumeration process.

Among them is Regina's Sandy Neithercut, who said she originally thought the information about herself she gave to an election enumerator was covered by Saskatchewan's Privacy Act and would be kept confidential.

"I thought it was between me and Elections Saskatchewan for the purposes of voting on election day," she said.

It turns out that's not the case.

Most of the time, Saskatchewan's Privacy Act does require that personal information be kept private, but during an election campaign, the name and address of every enumerated voter is given to candidates and passed on to volunteers.

That allows parties to make sure everyone on the list is eligible to vote, assistant chief electoral officer Dave Wilkie said.



"We know that they use them for more things than that, but once we give it to them, it's out of our hands," he said.

However, there are no controls on who sees the information or what it's used for. Saskatchewan's privacy commissioner, Gary Dickson, said he doesn't expect politicians would agree to a change.

"I anticipate there'd be huge resistance to anything that would substantially limit access that campaigns and candidates and political parties have to those lists," he said.

For those concerned about getting their names and addresses onto voting lists, there is a solution: Decline to be enumerated.

According to election officials, people can still vote, they'll just have to bring identification to the polling station and sign a declaration saying they do not wish to have their names on a list.

Saskatchewan's provincial election is Wednesday, Nov. 7.