Culling Voter Rolls: Battling Over Who Even Gets to Go to the Polls

New York Times ^ | November 25, 2017 | MICHAEL WINES

[reaganaut1]

WASHINGTON — On its face, the notice sent to 248 county election officials asked only that they do what Congress has ordered: Prune their rolls of voters who have died, moved or lost their eligibility — or face a federal lawsuit.

The notice, delivered in September by a conservative advocacy group, is at the heart of an increasingly bitter argument over the seemingly mundane task of keeping accurate lists of voters — an issue that will be a marquee argument before the Supreme Court in January.

At a time when gaming the rules of elections has become standard political strategy, the task raises a high-stakes question: Is scrubbing ineligible voters from the rolls worth the effort if it means mistakenly bumping legitimate voters as well?

The political ramifications are as close as a history book. Florida’s Legislature ordered the voter rolls scrubbed of dead registrants and ineligible felons before the 2000 presidential election. The resulting purge, based on a broad name-matching exercise, misidentified thousands of legitimate voters as criminals, and prevented at least 1,100 of them — some say thousands more — from casting ballots.

That was the election in which George W. Bush’s 537-vote margin in Florida secured his place in the White House. Controlling the rules of elections — including who is on or off the rolls — has been both a crucial part of political strategy and a legal battleground ever since.

Conservative groups and Republican election officials in some states say the poorly maintained rolls invite fraud and meddling by hackers, sap public confidence in elections and make election workers’ jobs harder. Voting rights advocates and most Democratic election officials, in turn, say that the benefits are mostly imaginary, and that the purges are intended to reduce the number of minority, poor and young voters

[Svartalfiar]

At a time when gaming the rules of elections has become standard political strategy, the task raises a high-stakes question: Is scrubbing ineligible voters from the rolls worth the effort if it means mistakenly bumping legitimate voters as well?

Easy solution. Purge all voter rolls every five or ten years. If people are actually concerned enough to vote, they can re-register with current address information proving they live where they say they live, and they are who they say they are.

[BobL]

“...raises a high-stakes question: Is scrubbing ineligible voters from the rolls worth the effort if it means mistakenly bumping legitimate voters as well? “

Answer: YES. It’s not like the death penalty, it’s reversible. Just go back and register...assuming you still live at the same address, and you still live.

These people are not PROHIBITED from voting, but, most likely, they were asked to verify that they are still who they were because names/addresses didn’t match other databases (like driver licenses), and they simply didn’t bother responding. Who’s fault is that?

[hal ogen]

If only Citizens who live in the appropriate jurisdiction are allowed to vote, the DIMs/LIBs would never win an election...even for dogcatcher.

[SandRat]

1. A US Citizen
2, A Citizen in Good Standing, i.e. NO CRIMINAL CONVICTION.
3. Legally registered to vote
5. A voter, only registered in one state, in only one precinct in only and only that hone state, that one precinct.

[jdsteel]

‘Is scrubbing ineligible voters from the rolls worth the effort if it means mistakenly bumping legitimate voters as well? “

ABSOLUTELY. Living people have the opportunity to fix the error. Dead people on the rolls stay there forever.

[SandRat]

I FOLLOWED my Dad’s EXAMPLE. When Mom Checked in at the Heaven Hotel, he had me take him to the voter precinct off so he could get her off the voter rolls. So, ... when he checked in to the Heaven Hotel I went and told the Voter precinct as well.

[Fraxinus]

I remember seeing an article about this a few years ago. The headline person complaining, was flagged because a data base merge caused him to have two different dates of birth. He had lied about his age so he could fight in WWII. This should have been easy enough to clear up.

[goodnesswins]

We have to renew our drivers license, and our passports....I think it’s time for everyone to have to RENEW your Voting Card, say every 4 years....THAT could clean up the Voter Rolls, and I don’t think it would be that difficult.

[Albion Wilde]

a high-stakes question: Is scrubbing ineligible voters from the rolls worth the effort if it means mistakenly bumping legitimate voters as well?

Uh, yes.