To be sure, registered voters are taken off the voter rolls for a number of reasons, including death and failing to report a change of address. Some states even banish registered voters who have not voted in a certain number of elections.
Yanking voters off the rolls may not sound like a big deal, but it stands out even more nowadays because election outcomes sometimes hinge on a small number of votes.
The comments I got from the Michigan spokeswoman also centered my mind on another issue: I'd like election chiefs to confront the role the Electronic Registration Information Center plays in providing less-than-accurate information about voters and potential voters.
Palast brought up ERIC in a recent article about how Wisconsin purged registered voters from the voter rolls for allegedly moving and not reporting their new addresses. Detailed reporting by the Palast team revealed many of the people deprived of their right to vote had in fact not moved.
.gregpalast.com/wisconsin-movers-didnt-move/
Wrote Palast, "Whatever the intent, how could Esenberg's group get it so wrong? It begins with a misuse of what is called the 'ERIC' list. ERIC is the Electronic Registration Information Center of Washington.
"ERIC, controlled by 30 state officials, uses a limited and amateurish system for identifying those who have moved from their registration address. But that's not a problem, as ERIC was not established to hunt voters for the purge but to find those who moved into a state or town and invite them to register.
"ERIC often confuses common names like James Brown. But if the wrong James Brown gets a postcard inviting him to register, no harm done. But the Wisconsin Legislature and then-Gov. Scott Walker added a stinger: If a voter does not return the postcard, they must be removed from the voter rolls.
"The card looks like 'junk mail' - so less than 2% returned it. Our lead address verification expert John Lenser says, 'not returning a postcard does not at all indicate someone has moved. People think it's so-called "junk mail" and toss it.' Indeed, he says, unless a card is returned "undeliverable," that is evidence the voter has not moved.'"
To be fair, I sent an email to the executive director of ERIC. I shared the information I quoted above, and invited Shane Hamlin to comment. I have not gotten a response.
I'm not including the ERIC details to knock the organization, which I support. I think ERIC does a lot right.
But the Palast piece opened the door for me to wonder whether ERIC can make some improvements to help states get even more accurate information about voters and potential voters. Making the ERIC system more effective might also decrease the chances that partisan groups bent on purging voters take advantage of gaps in the data ERIC gives to member states.
I still believe that the Grand Old Party continues to feast on a buffet of voter suppression and voter subtraction.
But my home team, the Democrats, need to figure out what they can do to make voting and registering to vote easy, convenient and fair. The old donkey will have to do more than bray if D.C. celebrates in a blue wave come January.
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