Scripps
Howard News Service
May 04, 2004
Many Counties Have Highly Inaccurate Voter Lists
By Thomas Hargrove
Voter registration is so widely mismanaged in America that
election officials in 261 counties certified more voters than
the actual adult population during the presidential race four
years ago.
Inaccurate voter rolls have grown substantially worse in
recent years as state and local officials increasingly fail to
keep track of the millions of voters who die or change
address. During the 1996 federal elections, 190 counties had
registered more voters than there were residents of voting
age, according to a Scripps Howard News Service study of
registration records nationwide.
"We've been left with some really shoddy lists,"
said Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Committee for
the Study of the American Electorate, in Washington. "The
biggest problem with this is the potential for abuse. And
nobody knows how much inflation in the voter lists we have
right now."
The problem is so widespread that the states of Alaska and
Montana certified more voters than adult population for the
2000 general election.
Many officials blame the National Voter Registration Act of
1993 - the so-called "motor voter bill" - for
allowing people to register while applying for driver's
licenses. Congress tried to rectify the problem in 2002 in the
Help America Vote Act, which ordered states to create uniform
voter-registration databases to identify dead, duplicate or
missing voters.
But odds seem slim for a significant cleanup in time for
November's political showdown between President Bush and
challenger John Kerry. Forty-one states have asked for waivers
exempting them from the new federal mandates until 2006. A few
counties already operating with central databases have
experienced only modest improvements in over-registration.
Polling workers say the problems are obvious.
"People stay on these lists indefinitely,"
Elections Judge Len Langeland said while holding up a sheaf of
computer printouts during the April 27 Pennsylvania
presidential primary. "Certainly, they remain for years
and years after they've moved away."
Chester County, Pa., Department of Voter Services Director
Linda Cummings said federal and state laws prevent her from
easily striking the ineligible voters on Langeland's list. She
said she must have legal proof that a voter has died or moved,
or wait until the voter has been inactive for at least four
years.
"It's frustrating because our hands are tied,"
Cummings said. "People are constantly telling us about
voters who've moved. But that is not sufficient to remove
someone from the list. We have to get a signature from the
voter."
The 2000 presidential election offered a rare glimpse into
the flaws of voter registration since it coincided with the
decennial census, providing a fairly accurate population count
with which to compare. The Scripps Howard study found that 261
counties in 30 states had a registration rate greater than 100
percent of the adult population.
Under the motor-voter act, local and state election
officials can place voters who may have died or moved away on
an inactive voter list for two federal election cycles,
usually about four years. If the voter has not appeared to
cast a ballot during this time, the state may permanently
strike the voter's name.
The study found that many election officials around the
nation are able to keep their lists relatively clean despite
the motor-voter act. The median registration rate among
America's 3,156 counties and election districts is 85 percent.
The Scripps Howard study found that inaccurate voting rolls
occur more often when states and counties fail to follow
proper accounting procedures. For example, 12 states do not
count the number of ballots cast in their elections, critical
information to ensure that votes are not lost during ballot
tabulation.
"In Minnesota, we meticulously count the ballots so
that they are all accounted for," said Minnesota
Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, also president of the
National Association of Secretaries of State. "I just
assumed all the other states do this, as well. How can you
balance a checkbook if you don't know how much money you
have?"
The states that don't count ballots are Alabama, Arkansas,
Delaware, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. The Scripps
Howard study found those states were much more likely to have
poorly maintained voter lists than the rest of the nation,
accounting for 106 of the 261 counties with registration rates
over 100 percent.
A few counties, and even whole states, have made dramatic
improvements in recent years.
"Yes, we'd heard that there were more voters in
Montana than were eligible," said Montana Elections
Deputy Elaine Graveley. "We've worked extensively with
the state Vital Statistics Bureau (to clear the names of
deceased voters) and to put together a statewide voter
database."
Montana had been 104 percent registered with 698,260 voters
four years ago, but managed to trim the rolls to 606,147 by
the 2002 primaries, about 88 percent of the adult population.
Most election officials contacted for this story said they
hope the Help America Vote Act of 2002 - also called HAVA -
will correct many of the problems caused by the National Voter
Registration Act of 1993.
"HAVA was passed, in part, in response to this
problem," Minnesota's Kiffmeyer said. "Every state
must have a centralized registered-voters list to avoid
duplication. Most states took waivers, needing more time. So
the act won't take full effect until 2006. So we don't yet
know how much effect HAVA will have."
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