(a) Permanent registration records as public records shall be kept in a safe place by the commission, shall be available for public inspection, and may not be removed from the office of the commission except as required for the performance of duties under this title or in compliance with court orders; provided, that a registrar shall make a reasonable effort to redact a person‘s social security number from a record before such record is made available to any person other than the holder of the number if such record is stored in a computer readable format on April 12, 1999. When such records are first stored in computer readable format or when changes are made to any computer program that stores or accesses records, a registrar shall redact a person’s social security number from a record before such record is made available to any person other than the holder of the number. The coordinator of elections shall also redact the social security number before making any voter registration records available to the public.(b) Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to prohibit an agency of a state, county, or municipal office from using a person’s social security number for internal purposes or to prohibit a county election commission and its staff from using a person’s social security number for enforcement of the election law as provided in this title, and nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to limit the public’s access to that record.
