A phoney Elections Alberta website has drawn the ire of the real agency, which claims the fake appears to exploit concerns about a recent data leak.
A news release from the agency says the fake site — electionsab.ca — mimics its legitimate URL, elections.ab.ca.
And it says a list of names, addresses, phone numbers and elector ID numbers are all bogus.
Elections Alberta announced earlier this year that it’s investigating a separatist group called the Centurion Project for publishing an app that made publicly accessible the names and addresses of 2.9 million registered voters.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure says his office doesn’t have the legislative authority or jurisdiction to investigate the fake website.
But McClure says he has contacted appropriate enforcement and cybersecurity agencies and is attempting to get the site taken down.
“I believe this disinformation activity is intended to ‘spoof’ Elections Alberta and is an attempt to reduce public confidence in my office and electoral events in Alberta,” McClure said in the release.
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Names on the fake site appear to recycle first and last names. Corey Lahey is quickly followed by Randy Corey and Lahey Trevor. Phone numbers have Alberta area codes but all start with 555.
Voter lists are only distributed by Elections Alberta to elected officials, political parties and party officials. Provincial law dictates they can only be used to solicit donations, recruit party members and communicate with electors.
McClure said the new deepfake provisions in the province’s Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act don’t cover the type of disinformation on the spoof site.
Elections Alberta asks anyone who comes across similar activity on the internet, or has questions about the veracity of information, to contact the agency.
The app that published real voter information was taken down in May, after a judge granted an injunction. That leak is also being investigated by RCMP and the provincial privacy watchdog.