Every election cycle, some Americans are forced to choose between exercising their right to vote and protecting their personal safety. In 2020, after going on a seemingly lovely date, Gabrielle Perry began receiving alarming texts from her date that included detailed personal information she had not shared with him – her parents’ names and birthdays, the make and model of her car, and other undisclosed details about herself. The situation quickly escalated to stalking and receiving death threats. As it turned out, the man accessed all of this information from public voter registration rolls.

Unfortunately, Perry’s harrowing experience is far from unique. Our current system of public voter rolls needlessly creates the potential for such abuse, and these privacy concerns present survivors of abuse with significant obstacles to safely casting their ballot.

Keep Reading: Protecting Survivors’ Right to Vote: Why Voter Registration Information Should Not Be Public