Since 2006 the Republican Secretary of State in the State of Washington has removed over 450,000 names from the voter lists and reports indicate that almost 1 in 4 elgible voters is not currently registered to vote.
This Saturday is the last day to register to vote online or by mail (you also have to update if you moved or haven't voted in the last two general elections) for the General Election in Washington State. Thankfully we are one of the two States that let you do it online and you can register in person until 15 days before (October 20).
Some of the changes were appropriate
Since 2006, more than 450,000 voter registrations were canceled; of those, nearly 95,000 were ineligible felons or dead, and almost 55,000 were canceled because they duplicated registrations that already existed. The rest were people who moved out of state, asked to be removed, or had not voted in the years covering two federal general elections.
but it is the last section that raises real concerns since over since someone who might not have voted in 2 general elections would also have been removed.
UPDATE: The Obama web site indicates that only Pierce County has in person voting but King Count still does as well.
During this time Washington State implemnted a new State-wide data base to be in compliance with the new Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 but here are real problems with the verification process. There have been 180 changes to state election law and 1,100 administrative rule changes
The federal law requires states to create a computerized statewide voter registration list that contains the name and identifying information of every legally registered voter. It does not, however, require that information on already-registered voters match the information in the new database.
but there has only been one case of a man who submitted his wife's abstentee ballot after she died so people aren't really worried about fraud. The real problem is that the data base doesn't match the voters roles since personal data often doesn’t match when people use their married names or get divorced or use a nickname. There can also be typographical errors with unusual names or simply mistakes made when the names are entered in the computer and there seem to be more problems with minority names not matching.
In the few states that have implemented the new system there have been problems but in Washington State the Republican State Attorney General claimed that
between 16 percent and 30 percent of registered voters in each county did not match the state database In Wisconsin, after 22 percent of voters’ registration information did not match the state’s database.
There was a similar problem in Florida where over 20,000 voters were denied or delayed in voting on that basis in 2006. Thankfully both states were sued for making the match mandatory and so disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters.
This mis-match doesn't impact everyone equally though and is rarely the result of fraud. In fact there has never been a case in the State of someone voting under someone else's name but it has a disproportionate impact on minorities.
Last year a study was done in Florida by the Brennan Center for justice that showed
black voters made up 13 percent of all registration applicants, but were 26 percent of all matching problems. Similarly, Latinos were 15 percent of the total voting population, and 39 percent of those blocked; while white voters were 66 percent of the voter applicant pool, but only 17 percent of those whose applications didn’t match.
It might help to know that our State Secretary of State is a Republican and that in the last Governors race Christine Gregoire (D) won by 133 votes out of 2.9 million votes and Senator Cantwell's (D) first election win in 2000 was by 2229 votes out of 2.5 million.
So perhaps you think this only affects people in Washington?
In 2000, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis, Florida wrongly purged about 1,100 people from the voting rolls who were misidentified as state felons. Proof of their eligibility to vote came too late for their votes to be counted. George W. Bush ended up winning Florida, and the presidency, by a mere 537 more votes than Democrat Al Gore.
Since Washington State votes by mail (
37 of Washington's 39 counties vote by mail. Only Pierce County and King County still have voting at the polls. Pierce County can be contacted here. An absentee ballot may be requested from the voter's County Auditor's Office by phone, mail, fax, electronically, or in person.)
and we can vote very early as a result Saturday is the LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE in Washington State. With 1 in 4 eligible Washington Voters not registered (they often think they are but have moved or been purged) Please contact everyone you know in the state and have them verify that they are still registered at this state web site. if they speak spanish here is the link
If you need to update your address you can do that online as well at MYVOTE.
Update: According to the Secretary of State's Twitter Web Page
Nice work Washington: From Sept. 24-Oct. 1, the # of voters ages 18-24 made up 23% of the total increase in registered voters statewide! 10:13 AM October 02, 2008 from web