Zimmerlink to remove ineligible voters from rolls
Until the Fayette County commissioners devise and implement a plan to make the county’s voter rolls as accurate as possible, Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink said she’s taking steps to make sure at least some of the ineligible voters are removed. Zimmerlink said from the time she took office in 2004, she heard comments from candidates, committee people and Election Day workers regarding inaccuracies of the voter registration list and the need to make corrections.
After hearing the complaints, Zimmerlink said she determined the commissioners, as the county election board, are responsible to ensure the voter records are accurate and maintained under the state and federal election code.
Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, said her staff has been doing more to update the voter rolls in recent years. Lint said she has a staff member reviewing obituaries on a daily basis as one avenue to remove ineligible voters.
Additionally, Lint said they are receiving notifications from the state that has led to removal of some of the ineligible voters as well as receiving notifications from family members of deceased voters. The election bureau must send a letter to get verification of a death before removal can occur.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” Lint said.
The current voter registration figures will not be available until next week, Lint said. For the primary, there were 89,067 registered voters, including 61,353 Democrats and 21,594 Republicans. Turnout was at 30 percent for the primary.
While Zimmerlink said the election bureau staff could not provide a number of inaccuracies for registered voters, when she initially discussed the issue with them in 2004, she said they did confirm the existence of problems. Zimmerlink said some of the problems occurred because of change of street address due to 911, voters moving and failing to notify the election bureau of new addresses and deaths of voters. Removing a voter from the rolls requires specific steps that begin either at the request of the voter, upon the death of a voter or after confirmation that a voter has moved to another county or under a voter removal program.
Zimmerlink said the state statute, contingent on federal law, stipulates that counties can identify voters by establishing one of two programs. She said the commissioners, along with the election bureau, should review the issue and chose the best program, if any, and determine how to proceed.
Until that is done, Zimmerlink said the election bureau checks local newspapers for death notices to make changes; takes information from family members about deceased individuals and takes recommendations from judges of elections after primary and election days for deaths or relocations.
Zimmerlink said since the primary in 2004, SURE (Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors) has been implemented. She explained SURE is a state mandate designed to make it easier to cross check and update voter registration which is shared between the counties. The state notifies the county with changes, Zimmerlink said. Additionally, the state Department of Health periodically notifies the county and the election bureau then removes the name.
Earlier this year, prior to the May 16, Zimmerlink said the election bureau mailed more than 21,000 letters to registered voters informing them of the new voting system. “We took advantage of this in that we utilized the ‘confirmation mailing’ by sending a direct non-forward able first-class return if undeliverable – address correction requested mailing to those 21,142 registered voters. What this did was informed the election bureau of the new address then the election bureau made the change in the system and sent the proper notification to the voter,” Zimmerlink said. “This corrected approximately 10 percent, which is a start.”
The current procedures will continue until the process can be reviewed by the commissioners, Zimmerlink said. “Fayette County commissioners with the election bureau should review the allowable programs and statutes and chose the best program, if any, and determine to what extent it should be conducted,” Zimmerlink said. “After this general election, I will work with the election bureau to start this process.”
Zimmerlink said voters, candidates, committee people, and Election Day workers are asked to be patient. She said a VRMP will need to be supported by the full board of commissioners and cannot be accomplished otherwise.