CONCORD — Former New Hampshire lawmaker Tom Alciere caused a stir in Rhode Island and Ohio when he put the states’ voter registration files on easily searchable websites.

Alciere, a Hudson resident who was forced to resign his House seat in 2000 because of web postings that advocated killing police, said he used the voter information to drive traffic to his website and make money.

The websites allowed anyone to look up a registered voter’s name, birth date, phone number, address and email address.

Alciere said he targeted people researching their family genealogy, but said he took the websites down after he and the web hosting company he used received a lot of complaints. Alciere said he is looking for another company to host his website.

The Rhode Island website is no longer available. A message on the Ohio site says: “The webmaster has suspended this site due to privacy considerations. Let this be a lesson to everybody, however: When you register to vote, the information you provide becomes PUBLIC.”

Unlike New Hampshire, the Rhode Island and Ohio voter registration files are available to anyone. The Rhode Island file is available for $25. Other states charge larger fees; Alabama charges nearly $30,000.

In New Hampshire, the voter registration files are not available online, but may be purchased on CD by political candidates.

Alciere said New Hampshire’s list does not include the year of birth, which makes it useless for someone trying to trace their family genealogy.

New Hampshire’s central data base of voters is available to a political committee registered with the state or a candidate for office, according to Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan, but not the general public.

The cost for the statewide list is $8,211.50, which is the cost of going to each city and town and purchasing their checklists, plus a $500 fee for the state.

He said his office also may sell the checklists for a candidate’s district such as executive council or state Senate; the cost is determined by the cost of the local checklists.

The information on the centralized state checklist includes name, party affiliation, physical and mailing address, and voting history, Scanlan said.

Other information collected from voter registration forms is confidential, such as date of birth, whether the voter is a naturalized citizen and the date of naturalization.

The voter registration forms themselves are confidential, Scanlan said, and available only to local election officials and law enforcement.

Alciere recently filed to be a delegate to the Republican state convention, which drew criticism from Democrats and Republican gubernatorial candidates Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith.

On his website, Alciere describes himself as an ardent supporter of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

He has posted a YouTube video explaining how Paul supporters can help elect the candidate President by running as state party convention delegates.

Alciere ran in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in 2010.

He finished sixth, with 499 votes. Alciere has also run for U.S. representative and state senator.

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Garry Rayno may be reached at grayno@unionleader.com.