FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 10, 2015
Contact: Tina Prakash: (860) 509-6224 (o); (860) 985-7460 (c)
Secretary of the State
Connecticut
(Apr. 10, 2015) — Secretary Merrill Launches Effort to Protect the Integrity of Connecticut’s Voter Registry
Interstate Partnership Works to Improve Accuracy of Voter List by Identifying Potential Changes in Connecticut Voters’ Status Through Comparison to Other States’ Registries
Hartford: Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today announced the implementation of a new measure to develop a more accurate voter registry list in the state. In partnership with the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), the Office of the Secretary of the State has provided each municipality with lists of voters who may require a change to their status. Local election officials have 90 days from the receipt of the lists to contact these voters in order to confirm changes.
“I take very seriously my duty to safeguard the integrity of Connecticut’s voter registry,” said Secretary Merrill. “As a member of this first-of-its-kind interstate partnership, we are now able to compare our lists to those of other states and government agencies to identify Connecticut voters who may have moved or may have passed away in another state. This is just one more tool to assist our local election officials in creating a more accurate voter registry.”
Connecticut submits both voter registration and driver’s license data to ERIC on a regular basis. ERIC then uses a sophisticated computer matching program to compare states’ lists and provide data back to each member state regarding potential status changes to voters on their registry. Potential matches fall into four categories: in-state duplicates (where a voter may be listed more than once on Connecticut’s voter registry); in-state updates (where a voter notified Connecticut’s Department of Motor Vehicles of a change of address but did not make the change with the local Registrar of Voters); out-of-state updates (where a voter may have moved to another state and either did not register to vote in the new state or failed to notify the new state of his or her former voting address in Connecticut); and deceased (where a potential match for a voter has been identified on the Social Security Death Master Index).
ERIC is a non-profit organization with the sole mission of assisting states to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens. To do this, voter registries and other lists from state agencies (such as the Department of Motor Vehicles) are compared at the national level. Besides identifying potential duplicate information and out-of-state deaths, ERIC also identifies potentially eligible but unregistered voters. Member states must make contact with each identified voter to confirm changes or to promote voter registration. The other members of the consortium include Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C.
Attachment: Letter of instruction to local election administrators
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Tina Prakash
Office of the Deputy
Secretary of the State
Connecticut
860.509.6224
Tina.Prakash@ct.gov
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