At the end of April, news reports detailed that Ken Blackwell's Secretary of State office distributed voter files with millions of Social Security numbers included.

This wasn't the first time Blackwell's office had shared social security numbers - only a few weeks earlier, it was discovered that the Secretary of State's website contained Social Security numbers of people who had filled out a certain business form with his office.  Those numbers were open and available to anyone who searched for them, and Blackwell had to find a way to take them off of this site after a suit was filed against him.

Both of these breaches affected citizens all across this state, people who trusted the Secretary of State's office with valuable personal information and found that trust betrayed.

And, sadly, betrayed trust seems to be a theme with Ken Blackwell.  He said he was against gambling, but owned stock in a company that produces slot machines. Before the primary, he said he was for eliminating the new CAT tax, now he says it should stay. And just recently, he backed off of his signature proposal -- the so-called TEL amendment -- under massive political pressure.

Clearly, citizens whose personal information may have been exposed need to be notified. Today, we are launching a petition calling on the Secretary of State's office to inform each and every person affected by this breach of the potential danger and risk to their identity.

Sign the petition: http://tedstrickland.com/page/petition/ssn

Identity theft is a serious problem in an increasingly electronic society.  The last thing we need is our public servants aiding this threat.  Ken Blackwell needs to step up to the plate and make sure that every Ohioan affected is aware and can take the measures they deem necessary to protect themselves.

Sign the petition: http://tedstrickland.com/page/petition/ssn

Join us in protecting the identities of all Ohioans.