§3-2-25 Systematic purging program for removal of ineligible voters from active voter registration files for counties with state approved uniform voter data system; modified program for counties usin
§3-2-25. Systematic purging program for removal of ineligible voters from active voter registration files for counties with state approved uniform voter data system; modified program for counties using other digitized record storage systems.
(a) In any county maintaining active voter registration files in the state uniform voter data system, as defined in section twenty of this article, the systematic purging program provided for in this section shall begin no earlier than the first day of October of each odd-numbered year and shall be completed no later than the first day of February of the following year. The clerk of the county commission shall transmit or mail on data disk to the secretary of state a copy of the digitized records contained in the active voter registration file as of the first day of October, to be received by the secretary of state no later than the fifteenth day of October.
(b) Upon receipt of the voter records in data format, the secretary of state shall provide for the comparison of data records of all participating counties. The secretary of state shall, based on the comparison, prepare a data file or printed list for each county which shall include the voter registration record for each voter shown on that county's list who appears to have registered or to have updated a voter registration in another county at a subsequent date. The resulting files and/or lists shall be returned to the appropriate county and the clerk of the county commission shall proceed with the confirmation procedure for those voters as prescribed in section twenty-six of this article.
(c) The secretary of state may provide for the comparison of data records of participating counties with the data records of the division of motor vehicles, the registrar of vital statistics and with the data records of any other state agency which maintains records of residents of the state, if the procedure is practical and the agency agrees to participate. Any resulting information regarding potentially ineligible voters shall be returned to the appropriate county and the clerk of the county commission shall proceed with the confirmation procedure as prescribed in section twenty-six of this article.
(d) The records of all of the voters of all participating counties not identified pursuant to the procedures set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of this section shall be combined for comparison with United States postal service change of address information, as described in Section 8 (c)(A) of the "National Voter Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg). The secretary of state shall contract with an authorized vendor of the United States postal service to perform the comparison. Not less than thirty percent nor more than fifty percent of the cost of the change of address comparison procedure shall be paid for from the combined voter registration and licensing fund established in section twelve of this article and participating counties shall reimburse the fund for the balance of the cost prorated on a per voter basis.
(e) The secretary of state shall return to each county the identified matches of the county voter registration records and the postal service change of address records.
(1) When the change of address information indicates the voter has moved to a new address within the county, the clerk of the county commission shall enter the new address on the voter record in the active registration file and assign the proper precinct.
(2) The clerk of the county commission shall then mail to each voter who appears to have moved from the residence address shown on the registration records a confirmation notice pursuant to section twenty-six of this article and of section 8(d)(2) of the "National Voter Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg). The notice shall be mailed, no later than the thirty-first day of December, to the new address provided by the postal service records or to the old address if a new address is not available.
(f) The clerk of the county commission shall prepare a list containing the name and address of each voter to whom a confirmation notice was mailed and the date on which the notice was mailed. The list shall be titled "Systematic Purging Program Notices" and shall include the name of the county and the date of the preparation of the list and shall be arranged in alphabetical order within precincts or for the entire county.
(g) Upon receipt of any response or returned mailing sent pursuant to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, the clerk shall immediately enter the date and type of response received on the list of voters prepared pursuant to the provisions of this section and shall then proceed in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-six of this article.
(h) For purposes of complying with the record keeping and public inspection requirements of the "National Voter Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg), and with the provisions of section twenty-seven of this article, the lists shall be maintained either in printed form kept in a binder prepared for such purpose and available for public inspection or in read-only data format available for public inspection on computer terminals set aside and available for regular use by the general public. Information concerning whether or not each person has responded to the notice shall be entered onto the list upon receipt and shall be available for public inspection as of the date the information is received.
(i) Any voter to whom a confirmation notice was mailed pursuant to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section who fails to respond to the notice or to update his or her voter registration by the first day of February immediately following the completion of the program, shall be designated inactive and placed within the inactive voter registration file, as defined in section nineteen of this article. Any voter designated inactive shall be required to affirm his or her current residence address upon appearing at the polls to vote.
(j) A county which uses a digitized data system for voter registration other than the state uniform voter data system shall conduct the systematic purging program for removal of ineligible voters from active voter registration files by contracting directly with an authorized vendor of the United States postal service for change of address information, at county expense, for the identification of potentially ineligible voters, and upon receipt of the list of matches, shall perform the steps required by the provisions of subsections (e) through (i) of this section within the same time limits and procedures required for those counties participating in the state approved system.
(k) In addition to the preceding purging procedures, all counties using the change of address information of the United States postal service shall also, once each four years during the period established for systematic purging in the year following a presidential election year, conduct the same procedure by mailing a confirmation notice to those persons not identified as potentially ineligible through the change of address comparison procedure but who have not updated their voter registration records and have not voted in any election during the preceding four calendar years. The purpose of this additional systematic confirmation procedure shall be to identify those voters who may have moved without filing a forwarding address, moved with a forwarding address under another name, died in a another county or state so that the certificate of death was not returned to the clerk of the county commission, or who otherwise have become ineligible.