[afriend4lyfe]

This is a blatant violation and misuse of voter files. In Illinois, for instance, "Voter data is available to registered political committees for bonafide political purposes. Use for commercial solicitation or other business purposes is prohibited."[1]

I've been noticing a trend where more and more average Joes are just downloading these files and doing whatever they want with them (specifically, ad targeting). So it's not hard to imagine what malicious state actors have been doing with them. And on a social level, it feels as tho these apps are in violation of the spirit of the voter files purpose.

With these specific apps it appears to be a classic case of "it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission".

1. https://www.elections.il.gov/votinginformation/computerizedv...