Voter Rights Advocates Push IL to Exit Multistate Database

Voter Rights Advocates are pushing Illinois Election Officials to Withdraw from a longtime Multistate Voter Registration Database over questions of Accuracy, Security, and Voter Suppression. The Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program is aimed at Cleaning Voter Records and Preventing Voter Fraud. States Voluntarily provide their Voter Lists and the Program Searches for Duplicates.

While a few States have quietly Exited over Data Quality concerns, Advocates in Democrat-leaning Illinois are taking it a step further with fresh Claims about Lax Security, Discrimination against Minorities, and Questions about the Role of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican who Oversees the Program and is Vice Chairman of President Trump's Election Fraud Commission.

Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Oppose it and Advocates packed a recent State Board of Elections Meeting after sending Letters Demanding Illinois End its Cooperation. Now, over two dozen State Lawmakers also want Illinois to Withdraw. Their push comes as Trump's Commission is asking States for Voter Information while it Investigates Trump's Unsubstantiated claims that Millions of People Voted Illegally in 2016. "Crosscheck is being used as a political tool to help Republicans win elections," Said state Rep. Will Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat. "This has gone much too far."

Kobach has defended the Database. He's Championed Tough Voter Identification Laws that Critics claim Suppress Minority Voters and helped Draft Proposals in numerous States aimed at Cracking down on Illegal Immigration. His views have been more heavily Scrutinized since he was tapped for Trump's Commission. Past Studies have shown Voter Fraud is exceedingly Rare. Although Voting in Multiple Places is Illegal, being Registered to Vote in more than One State isn't. And that can happen when People move from one Jurisdiction to another and Local Board of Elections Fail to Clean their Lists.

The Origins of Crosscheck date to 2005, before Kobach was Kansas' Chief Election Official. It started with Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska Sharing Information. Illinois joined in 2010. This year, 28 States participated. Four States have left Crosscheck: Florida, Washington, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

The Perks are clear: It's Free and provides Hard-to-Compile Information. But Data Experts are skeptical of Crosscheck, which handled more than 98 Million Voter Records this year with roughly 3 Million possible Duplicates. A Study this year by Researchers at Stanford, Harvard, and Yale Universities noted a High Error Rate. In Illinois, Advocates have Claimed that Minorities with Common Surnames are more likely to be Flagged by the Program. Crosscheck relies mostly on Voters' Names and Birthdates. It's up to States to Decide how to Pursue possible Matches. Illinois Officials take years to Verify whether someone should be Removed from State Voter Rolls. But other States haven't been so Cautious. For example, in 2014, Officials in Idaho's Ada County Admitted they Wrongly Purged more than 750 Voters from the Rolls based on Crosscheck Matches.

Kansas' Director of Elections Bryan Caskey said States are Warned about the possibility for "false positives."
"We're very open and clear about the search criteria and the limitations," He said. Illinois Officials say Flawed Data is better than No Data. Last year, Illinois, with roughly 8 Million Active Voters on the Rolls, received possible Matches on over 500,000 Records. Other concerns have been raised because Passwords were sent via Email. Kansas Secretary of State Officials say Data wasn't at risk. Illinois Election Officials say those Passwords are now Obsolete.

Voter Advocates support another System Illinois also uses, the Electronic Registration Information Center, created in 2012 by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Data Experts say it's more Accurate because it uses Partial Social Security Numbers to help find Matches. But that System costs Money to Join and fewer States are involved. "Are we better off losing all the data that we have that's not being misused here?" asked Illinois State Board of Elections' General Counsel Ken Menzel. "A lot of the uproar that's come about is who is now overseeing the Kansas secretary of state's office."

One Group behind the Illinois push to Exit Crosscheck is Indivisible Chicago, which formed to "Resist" Trump's Agenda, including the Election Commission's attempts to get Data. "We can't have our voter registrations managed by someone who is that partisan," Organizing Member Jeff Radue said of Kobach.

Kobach, who's been Sued several times by the ACLU, persuaded the Kansas Legislature to Designate him the only Chief State Elections Officer with Prosecutorial Power on Election Fraud. Since 2015, he's Prosecuted 10 Cases of People Voting in Kansas while Voting in another State, with Eight ending in Convictions or Guilty Pleas.

Speaking to a Group of Republicans in the Kansas City area recently, Kobach mocked "the left" for Downplaying Election Fraud despite "conviction after conviction." "People realize they're still registered in their old state, and some people get tempted, and they think they can get away with it — and usually, they're right," said Kobach, who is running for Governor. "That particular type of voter fraud is bipartisan."

Voting in multiple States can happen when Board of Elections don't properly Maintain their Voting Lists. But most of the Voting Fraud isn't by the Voter. It occurs by Board of Elections Staff, Poll Site Staff, and Candidates Campaign Staff manipulating Absentee Ballots.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker

NY Dead Residents Are Still Voting in Nassau County

Newsday has found more than 6,000 dead people are registered to vote in Nassau County and records show about 270 of them actually voted after their deaths  The paper using voter registration and federal death records.  Dead registered voters in Nassau County account for nearly 25 percent of the 26,500 dead people registered to vote statewide.

John Ryan, counsel to Nassau County Republican Elections Commissioner Louis Savinetti, couldn't explain why so many dead people were on active voting lists.

As a matter of course, State Board of Elections officials send Nassau and other counties lists of names of people who may no longer be eligible to vote, and those names are supposed to be checked out and then deleted from the database if determined invalid.  Counties also send mail each year to all registered voters and, if the mail is returned unopened, those voters are removed from the active registry.  They stay on an inactive list for two years before their registration is revoked reports.

A State Board of Elections spokesman told Newsday he didn't know if New York planned to enroll in some of the programs other states have found worthwhile.

In an effort to control voter registration and the ability to double vote, two organizations have created different interstate voter registration systems.

Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)

The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a non-profit organization with the sole mission of assisting states to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens. ERIC is governed and managed by states who choose to join, and was formed in 2012 with assistance from The Pew Charitable Trusts.  The seven states that pioneered the formation of ERIC in 2012 are: Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

They uses multiple data points, including car registration, Social Security lists and change-of-address information to highlight names that should not be on active voting lists in a given district.

The Electronic Registration Information Center Crosscheck Program

The program compares voter registration records annually among the participating states to identify duplicate registrations and double votes. It is a tool states can use to maintain clean, current and accurate voter lists and to fight voter fraud.

The program began in 2005 as an agreement between four Midwestern states – Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. The four original states comprised approximately 9 million registration records. Today, the states in the program are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia and will contain more than 90 million voter registration records in the database to compare in 2014.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Voter Roll Purges using National Voter Registration Systems

In an effort to control voter registration and the ability to double vote, two organizations have created different interstate voter registration systems.

I have been to their presentations and hope we can get to a single statewide system.  Each system has their pluses and minuses and operational issues.

Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)

The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a non-profit organization with the sole mission of assisting states to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.  ERIC is governed and managed by states who choose to join, and was formed in 2012 with assistance from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Pew Charitable Trusts report that 1 in 4 of those polled believed their registration is automatically updated when they move.

The seven states that pioneered the formation of ERIC in 2012 are: Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

The states were inspired to create ERIC due to the challenges in maintaining the accuracy of voter registration records.  While most private industry, and many government agencies, have updated their systems to take advantage of modern technology, voter registration systems remain largely based on 19th century tools, such as handwriting on paper forms and postal mail.  The inherent inefficiencies in the system result in unnecessarily high costs, and make it difficult to keep voter rolls clean throughout the country.  For example, 1 in 8 voter registration records in America contain a serious error.

The ERIC data center is a sophisticated tool that allows states to securely and safely compare voter data, thereby improving the accuracy of their voter rolls.  States that choose to participate in ERIC gain access to state-of-the-art technology to compare information on eligible voters from official data sources submitted by the states, such as records from the voter registration rolls and from the state motor vehicle agency, and reports back to the states where there is a highly confident match indicating a voter moved or died, or the existence of a duplicate record.  States can then begin the process under federal and state law to clean up the voter rolls, targeting their efforts based on solid data.

Participating states also receive information on unregistered individuals who are potentially eligible to vote.  This information, which states have never previously received, will allow them to reach out to those citizens to encourage them to register in the most efficient way and at the most efficient time before an election or registration deadline.  Receiving actionable information earlier in the election cycle will reduce costs and administrative burdens to state election officials, while also reducing the incentive for unregulated third-party registration groups to engage in large scale registration efforts.

Benefits of ERIC membership

1. Reduced costs: Enabling election officials to keep their records up-to-date year-round, and discouraging the high volume of inefficient paper registrations driven by third party groups close to major elections will result in long-term cost savings.

2. More accurate voter rolls with the near elimination of duplicate and invalid registrations.

3. Reduced opportunity for and perception of potential election fraud.

4. Improved protection of voters’ privacy.

The Electronic Registration Information Center Crosscheck Program

The program compares voter registration records annually among the participating states to identify duplicate registrations and double votes.  It is a tool states can use to maintain clean, current and accurate voter lists and to fight voter fraud.

The program began in 2005 as an agreement between four Midwestern states – Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.  The four original states comprised approximately 9 million registration records.  Today, the states in the program are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia and will contain more than 90 million voter registration records in the database to compare in 2014.

Benefits of Membership

(1) Establishes procedures that will increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote in elections for Federal office.

(2) To make it possible for Federal, State, and local governments to implement this in a manner that enhances the participation of eligible citizens as voters in elections for Federal office.

(3) To protect the integrity of the electoral process.

(4) To ensure that accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained.

How does it works

1. Each state pulls data on January 15 each year using prescribed data format.

2. Upload data to secure FTP site (hosted by Arkansas).

3. The Crosscheck Program's IT department pulls data, runs comparison, uploads results to FTP site.

4. Each state downloads results from FTP site, processes them according to state laws and regulations.

5. States' deletes all other states’ data.

A federal case has developed using the Crosscheck Progam.

The deadline for registering to vote in Virginia’s November 5, 2013 election is Monday, October 14.  Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections has obtained a list of 77,000 Virginia voters that allegedly are also registered voters in some other state.  The State Board has asked the various County and Independent City Boards to remove these voters from the rolls before the upcoming election.

On October 1, the Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit to stop the purge, until after the election.  The lawsuit alleges that the list has many errors.  The lawsuit also points out that federal law does not permit purges to occur closer than 90 days before an election, although that law only relates to federal elections, not elections for state office.  Finally, the lawsuit says that a large proportion of the voters on the list registered in some other state as long ago as ten years, and that the same voters moved to Virginia after that time.  The case is Democratic Party of Virginia v Virginia State Board of Elections, eastern district, 1:13cv-1218.

Under the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck program, the 25 member states send their voter registration data to a central location where they are matched based on first name/last name/date of birth/last 4 digits of SSN.

Virginia apparently also checked against its own state voter database and removed voters whose Virginia activity was later than that indicated in the other states.

The issue here is not whether a purge of voter registrations is valid based on, for instance, change of address.  The issue is giving voters the time to register again if they are incorrectly purged from the voter rolls, and that’s why caging efforts like this are always undertaken in the last few weeks of an election cycle.

If a voter is incorrectly purged from the voter rolls, and appears at the polls, they may cast a provisional ballot.  Then they will have to return with proof they are eligible to vote in that state.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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