A cynical first repose to Sheri Iachetta’s letter to Charlottesville voters might have been, "Better late than never?" After all, City Registrar Iachetta was providing a "status report" on the theft of two laptops containing information about the city’s registered voters — a theft that occurred in November. To date, no identities have been compromised.
Iachetta says her letter is intended as a follow-up, not an announcement of the thefts and the identity risks that it implies, since "it was covered everywhere" at the time. "All we did was send a status update to let people know nothing has happened since then."
Iachetta says she was "a little concerned going into yesterday" that she’d field a deluge of phone calls. She says about 45 came in, and yes, "some people had not heard about it and were confused."
Iachetta’s letter includes information about how voters can obtained reissued driver’s licenses with new customer numbers, "despite the very low level of risk." The DMV has informed Iachetta that about 50 people have made that switch.
"People were thankful we gave them the update," she says. "We got some nice e-mails."
Sheri Iachetta shared the good news that there have been no reported identity thefts since two laptops with city voters’ personal info went missing last November.
