ATTENTION: Voter Registration Lists May Foil Voters. Is this the Republicans' secret weapon?

[flpoljunkie]

You will have to trust your Election Supervisor to notify you, if you are not on "The List" of those eligible to vote. This is looking like another way to suppress the vote. Don't let them take your vote away! If you are concerned, call your Supervisor of Elections and find out if you are eligible to vote on November 7th.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/25/ap/national/mainD8KVQL4G2.shtml

Oct. 25, 2006

VOTER REGISTRATION LISTS MAY FOIL VOTERS
By DEBORAH HASTINGS AP National Writer

(AP) Between every registered voter and the voting booth is The List. And if you're not on it, you might not be able to cast a ballot. One of the biggest changes wrought by the Help America Vote Act is the mandate that every state must have a voter registration database up and working by the Nov. 7 general election. But a dozen states missed the Jan. 1 deadline for finishing their databases, which produce lists of registered voters for every precinct. And four states have been sued by the Justice Department.

That leaves a confusing array of systems that may or may not work come Election Day, voting rights groups say. And it creates a growing anxiety that registered voters with every right to cast a ballot will be turned away because their names are not on the list for a variety of reasons, including something as innocuous as a typo.

"No issue is more important on Election Day than the quality of the list," said Doug Chapin of the nonpartisan reform group electionline.org. "Those databases are the final say on whether a person gets to vote."

The regulation was designed to assure that each state would have a central, independent repository for all registered voters _ created by cross-checking voter registrations with existing state records to make sure dead people, incarcerated felons, and others not eligible to cast a ballot were removed from the rolls. It was also supposed to make it easier to vote by having a single list instead of scores of county-based rolls.

Using drivers' license data and Social Security numbers, state officials were supposed to match that data to voter registration cards. It didn't take long for unforeseen problems to pop up. Someone may use a middle initial on their voter registration card, but not on their driver's license. Married women may change their names, but not on every form of identification. Data entry errors can, and often do, occur.

"In theory, it looks like a really good idea," said Chapin. "But it's not as easy to match information on databases as they originally thought."

http://www.electionline.org

http://www.brennancenter.org

[havocmom]

1. Call NOW and check. If you have been purged, find out how to fix it!

NOW!

[SharonAnn]

2. Of course it is. Why do you think they want to do all these things

that "protect" the list?

[flpoljunkie]

3. Brennan Center reports that this purging is illegal, but some states are doing it anyway!

Ill-conceived state policies concerning new statewide voter registration databases are keeping eligible voters off of the rolls, through no fault of their own. Across the country, states are implementing the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (“HAVA”), creating new statewide computerized databases of registered voters. The technology has the potential to improve the registration process substantially. However, it also has the potential to be quite dangerous – in particular, when officials unduly rely on the ability to “match” information from one source to another. A few outlier states have now created a new illegal precondition for registration: the state’s ability to match information on voter registration forms to information in other government databases, such as the state’s motor vehicles database or the federal Social Security system. In these states, if the government cannot find a “match” for information on the form, the applicant will not be registered and will not be able to cast a valid ballot.

http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/dem_vr_castout_2.html


The Brennan Center report found that seven states in particular -- Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington -- are set to implement database matching policies that could create severe barriers to the right to vote.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1018&Itemid=852

(Pennsylvania is said to have drooped "no match, no vote.")