Thousands Face Mix-Ups in Voter Registrations

ACM TechNews reports that new state voter registration systems throughout the United States are mistakenly rejecting voters and thus potentially disrupting the entire election process.

The problems are originating from the change from locally managed lists to statewide databases, a change required by the Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002 in the aftermath of the deadlocked presidential race 2 years earlier. While the switch is supposed to be a more efficient and accurate way to keep lists updated, the transition to the new state registration systems are incorrectly rejecting thousands of voters across the country. It is impossible to know how many voters are affected nationwide.

In Alabama, scores of voters are being labeled convicted felons based on erroneous lists. Michigan must restore thousands of names it illegally removed from voter rolls over residency questions. Tens of thousands of voters could be affected in Wisconsin since officials there admit that their database is wrong in one out of five times that it flags voters.

The electronic lists have been coming online gradually and for 31 states this will be the first time they are used in a presidential election. It is

"this season's big issue," said Wendy R. Weiser, who directs voting rights projects for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law, noting that efforts to keep names off the lists are "a new trend, not in the majority of states but in the battleground states."

See full article at washingtonpost.com.