Todd Wallack v. Monterey, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20210251)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 17, 2021 SPR21/0251 Terry Walker Town Clerk Town of Monterey 435 Main Street P. O. Box 308 Monterey, MA 01245 Dear Ms. Walker: I have received the petition of Todd Wallack of the Boston Globe appealing the response of the Town of Monterey (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On December 29, 2020, Mr. Wallack requested “[a]n electronic copy of the [Town’s] public list of registered voters, also known as the voter file. (Please note, that I am not seeking a copy of the voter history file).” On January 26, 2021, the Town provided Mr. Wallack with a copy of the voter list as a PDF, via email. In a February 2, 2021 petition to the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), Mr. Wallack seeks to appeal the Town’s response for a full, un-redacted copy of the voter roll (Extract #8). In his petition, Mr. Wallack asserts, “[t]he [T]own provided a PDF of a portion of its voter records, but has declined to provide the full voter roll in machine-readable format. The [Secretary] has advised that Extract #8 of the voter roll is public. And G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d) requires [Records Access Officers] (RAOs) to provide data in machine-readable format when possible.” As a result of Mr. Wallack’s petition, this appeal was opened. The Town is advised that pursuant to the Public Records Law, “[t]he records access officer shall provide the public records to a requestor by electronic means unless the record is not available in electronic form or the requestor does not have the ability to receive or access the records in a usable electronic form. The records access officer shall, to the extent feasible, provide the public record in the requestor’s preferred format or, in the absence of a preferred format, in a searchable, machine readable format.” See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d). Whereas Mr. Wallack specifically requested to receive the complete Voter Roll Extract #8, electronically via email, as a machine-readable file, such as CSV; other type of delimited text file; or Excel file, I find that the Town has not met its burden in demonstrating that it is not One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Terry Walker SPR21/0251 Page 2 February 17, 2021 feasible to provide the Voter Roll Extract #8 in the requested format and sent via email. Nor, may the Town withhold or redact the Extract #8. The Town must clarify this matter. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Wallack with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Todd Wallack, Boston Globe