Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign kept a database of public housing residents to gain votes, according to a report from The Washington Post. The database contained the identities of almost 6,000 residents and was used for get-out-the-vote efforts, which would be an unauthorized use of private government information. The Post acquired the information from former campaign workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The database included names, addresses, and phone numbers, as well as information suggesting “team captains” in specific housing complexes.
“(It’s a) pretty official list from inside the D.C. housing authority,” Post columnist Mike DeBonis told WTOP. “It had names, addresses and phone numbers of all residents in some of these housing complexes. That would have been a tremendous help to any campaign to identify votes on election day and before that.” Voter turnout in the District in 2010 was 26 percent higher than the previous mayoral election, a significantly high jump. The report comes almost two weeks after it was revealed that a secret “shadow campaign,” worth $650,000 in illicit funds, aided Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign against then incumbent Adrian Fenty.
