By The Star Staff
State Elections Commission (SEC) Alternate Chairwoman Jessika Padilla Rivera revealed Thursday that an SEC employee confessed to having published personal and privileged information of former prosecutor and political commentator Mayra López Mulero in a WhatsApp chat.
“It is correct, Advance Civil ID information was published, which is a platform that works solely and exclusively with the SEC through its voter registration officers; that voter is indeed attorney Mayra López Mulero,” the SEC official confirmed in a radio interview. “In that sense, we are working administratively with the reprimand established by our regulations, [with] one of our employees, who unfortunately, making use of the privilege she has of access to that platform, disclosed the attorney’s information.”
López Mulero, who reportedly had recently gone to the SEC to update her electoral information, complained this week that personal information she submitted to the SEC was published in a chat controlled by New Progressive Party (NPP) supporters.
Former Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz described López Mulero’s claims about the publication of data from her electoral file in the chat as drama at the level of hyperbole. The NPP leader called on the SEC chairwoman to act immediately if she has a confession from an employee on the matter, while questioning the motives behind López Mulero’s claim.
“I think they should close the State Elections Commission and stop the elections until Mayra López Mulero is satisfied, do you think so?” Rivera Schatz said. “I mean, I think there is drama here, and an exaggeration at the level of hyperbole is the approach. To give you an idea, some people here make claims of confidentiality. The State Elections Commission, by law, has always given out the electoral register with name, electoral number, address and the data of each voter to all parties. How confidential can that information be? So it seems to me that it is a great exaggeration, right? I imagine that there will be a grand jury soon, and half of the State Elections Commission will be arrested. There are people who live off drama. Let’s see what happens. If the commission employee failed under a regulation, then the chairperson does not have to wait. If the chairperson knows who it is and the person violated a regulation, she can take action summarily. ... I am not in a hurry, but her slowness infuriates me. … And Mayra, who is Mayra campaigning for these four years?”
“Because the chairperson has already acknowledged that they have identified the person and that the person even made the admission,” he added.
Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Electoral Commissioner Karla Angleró González also weighed in on the situation, expressing her strongest repudiation of the confirmation that an SEC employee disclosed confidential information belonging to López Mulero, after having had privileged access to the SEC platform.
“It is unacceptable that the resources of the SEC, an institution that must ensure the purity and security of the electoral process, are used for the improper dissemination of confidential information,” Angleró said. “This action does not represent the trust that citizens place in this electoral institution. Any citizen who goes to the SEC has the right to trust that their information will be treated with the greatest respect and confidentiality. What has happened has to have consequences.”
The PDP official added that such an action is a violation that the Electoral Code classifies as a serious crime. She referred to Article 12.9, which indicates the illegal use of information from the electoral register. It says that “any person who, due to his or her function or by accident, has access to the information contained in the General Registry of Voters and in the Electronic Registry of Voters (eRE System) in its printed or electronic versions and makes total or partial use of this for purposes other than those provided for in this Law, will have engaged in a serious crime and, if convicted, will be punished with imprisonment for a term of no less than one year or more than three years and a fine that will not exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).”