Cross-Checking the Voter Rolls
When you move, you are likely to notify your friends, family, and cable company. Few of us think to notify election officials and cancel our old voter registration.
To clean up the voter rolls, an increasing number of states are now participating in interstate matching agreements, in which they compare their voter databases in an attempt to identify individuals who may be registered in more than one state.
Maintaining the accuracy of the voter rolls is important. However, interstate matching programs can disenfranchise eligible voters if such procedures are not implemented carefully. Voter database inaccuracies and failures in the matching process can yield false positives, and lead to eligible voters being erroneously removed from the voter rolls.
Such matching programs must be conducted in strict accordance with guidelines established by the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. States violate these laws—and their citizens’ voting rights—when they fail to grasp the vulnerabilities of the matching process and erroneously remove apparently “matched” voters.
Most Recent / Relevant Items
- (22)
- (10)
- (8)
- (4)
Advanced Filters and Sorting
Officials Examine Bipartisan Voting Recommendations
At a time when voting rights is an issue of national concern, and the problems faced by voters in 2012... Read more
Balancing Voter Purge Efforts with Voter Outreach
“Voter rolls are messy, and someone has to clean them up,” wrote Reid Wilson at Washington Posts‘ blog, GovBeat. It’s... Read more
Virginia Registrar Cautiously Implements New Voter Purge Law
Virginia is one of two states to pass a law that allows it to compare voter rolls with neighboring states... Read more
Letter to the Texas House Elections Committee regarding HB 2093,HB 2372, HB 2848
A coalition of civic engagement groups submitted a letter to the Texas House Elections Committee, expressing concerns with election reform legislation, HB 2093, HB 2372, and HB 2848. The issues relate to rolling back early voting, interstate voter registration crosscheck program, and other issues. Read more
Congress Holds Hearing on State of Voting Rights
Today, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing to address The State of the Right to Vote After... Read more
Potentially Risky Voter Roll Procedure to Occur in Miss.
The potentially risky practice of interstate voter database matching has expanded to more states in 2010. In itself, the database... Read more
Legislative Brief: Maintaining Current and Accurate Voter Lists
Every state is tasked with the duty to maintain current and accurate computerized statewide voter registration rolls, while at the same time ensuring that no eligible voters are wrongfully removed from the rolls. This report discusses some of the challenges inherent in balancing these two goals, and offers recommendations for implementing best practices. Read more
Kansas Takes Steps to Ensure Voters Are Not Improperly Purged by Interstate Data-Match
A seemingly harmless trend in voter list maintenance is to compare voter lists between states and cancel apparent matches. However,... Read more
Kansas Secretary of State Issues New Instructions About Interestate Database Matching
In response to concerns expressed by national voting rights groups Project Vote and the Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN), the Kansas Secretary of State has issued new instructions to county election officials to ensure that eligible voters are not wrongfully removed from the rolls under an ongoing program to update voter registration databases based on interstate matching. Read more
Policy Paper: Maintaining Current and Accurate Voter Lists
This report discusses some of the challenges for election officials inherent in maintaining accurate voter lists while ensuring no eligible voters are wrongfully removed from the rolls, and offers recommendations for implementing best practices. Read more