Posted on Sun, Apr. 23, 2006

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Voter list comparison yields thousands of duplicates

Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. - During an effort to closely examine voter files, Kentucky elections officials found 16,000 registered voters who now live in two other Southern states.

People moving to other states often don't tell their former states that they won't be voting there anymore. As a result, there are likely hundreds of thousands of people nationwide who are registered to vote in more than one state.

Kentucky recently compared voter files with election officials from Tennessee and South Carolina to eliminate thousands of registered voters who were listed in more than one state. Officials found nearly 6,000 former Kentucky voters who now live in Tennessee, and about the same number of registered Tennessee voters who now live in Kentucky.

More surprising were the 2,110 registered Kentucky voters who officials believe live in South Carolina.

"We just didn't think that many people moved between the two (states)," said Sarah Ball Johnson, executive director of the Kentucky Board of Elections.

The high number of voters who are registered in more than one state can leave the system open to voter fraud. But Johnson said no one voted in more than one of the three states in the same election.

One reason for the high number of duplicate listings is that many states don't notify other states of their new voter registrants.

"It is an issue. Everyone's talking about it," Johnson said. "And absolutely no one has the magic answer."

The review, conducted at the South Carolina State Data Center, is becoming a model for other states to prevent voter fraud.

"The states are very much interested," said Leslie Reynolds, executive director of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Washington.

Reviews of voting rolls got the most attention after the highly competitive 2000 presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

After that, Secretary of State Trey Grayson began to discuss ways to check on Kentucky's registered voters.

"It was incumbent upon us and the other states who had statewide databases ... to go forward and be the leaders on this match," Grayson said.

Grayson said he's pleased that there haven't yet been cases of double voting. But he cautioned that the practice is most likely to happen with states that border Kentucky.

"It wouldn't shock me if somebody did that because of wanting to have a greater say in the presidential election," Grayson said. "And that's exactly the kind of thing we're trying to prevent from happening. People shouldn't be able to shop their vote."

Johnson said Kentucky voters should check the Voter Information Center to make sure their registration information is current. Anyone who was taken off the voter rolls by accident can appeal, she said.

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On the Net: http://www.elect.ky.gov/