Authorities in Virginia were shocked to discover that the commonwealth’s voter rolls have nearly 19,000 dead people registered to cast ballots.
The discovery came as state elections officials began looking through voter registrations to correct the records to account for ineligible voters, WTOP-FM in Washington reported Wednesday.
During the search, officials found records going back to 1960 indicating the existence of tens of thousands of ineligible voters.
“I knew that there was something there, but I didn’t know that it was this big,” Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals said, according to the outlet.
She added that the rolls were being corrected.
“It was a computer coding error that missed between the date of the death being reported and the date of the death certificate,” Beals said. “We are in the process of building a new statewide voter registration system, and I want to make sure that the data we put into that system is as up-to-date as it can possibly be.”
She said new rules will give local registrars the ability to cull names of voters who have been reported as having died instead of waiting for an official death certificate.
“We have made it easier to identify and remove deceased voters more quickly,” Beals said of Virginia’s new policies. “This is actually something that registrars have requested.”
Officials also created a new database for registrars to use to look up residents who are registered to vote but might have died in another state.
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In the past, counties that border other states have had problems confirming a voter’s status if the person happened to move across the border.
“A lot of times, these are facilities in Tennessee, Kentucky or West Virginia and they’re not in Virginia,” Beals said. “People are dying there and may not get a Virginia death certificate.”
Virginia’s Department of Elections noted that along with the new data-sharing program, the department has created a form to allow family members to let election officials know about a deceased relative.
“As a result of these findings and process improvements, citizens can expect to see a significant number of names removed from Virginia’s voter rolls,” the department said in a news release Monday.
In a statement in the release, Beals added, “Maintaining the accuracy and security of our voter list continues to be a top priority for [the Department of Elections] as the agency transitions to the new statewide voter registration system.
“Through new mechanisms for updating our voter rolls, the department is working towards a best-in-class data voter registration list with the most accurate data available.”
The department did not go so far as to say that any of the dead voters had cast ballots in recent elections, but with the discovery that so many people are still eligible even in death, it is no wonder people have serious doubts about the integrity of our voter rolls.
The drive to “true” America’s voter rolls has been a fight going on for more than a decade, and it is a fight worth having.
As Seth Keshel wrote in an Op-Ed earlier this year, “What good is it for conservative candidates to run circles around their opponents on policy positions if elections in states like Arizona, Nevada and Michigan are designed to subvert the voice of the people?”
Keshel detailed 10 steps states must take to ensure election integrity, and at the top of the list is clearing voter rolls of ineligible voters.
“The foundation of a clean election is a clean voter roll; conversely, a filthy election stems from a filthy voter roll,” he wrote. “Canvassers across the country have identified countless apartments, dormitories, nursing homes and parking lots overflowing with fraudulent registrations. This action can be addressed at the county level throughout most of the country.”
This is exactly right. Every state needs to do this — and congratulations to Virginia for taking this first step.
