IN RECENT MAILING 72,000 were
returned as undeliverable!
|
[Scott Hacker], a Republican candidate for a seat representing parts of Providence
and North Providence, got a voters list from the state Republican Party, based on
information from the secretary of state's office. The party had supposedly screened
the list, and Hacker limited his mailing to "perfect voters" -- people who had voted in
at least three of the past four elections, according to the database.
Brown's office sent out letters in March asking voters to update the information on
file if it was no longer accurate. Of the 605,000 mailers that went out -- one to
each registered voter -- 72,000 were returned as undeliverable, office
spokesman Peter Kerwin said.
Kerwin said the office kept track of the mailers that came back, and in fact, that was
part of the point of the mailing. The voters whose mailers came back as undeliverable
will be marked "inactive" in the state's database. If a person shows up and votes, or
updates his voter registration at a city or town hall, his status will revert to "active."
But voters who don't do either, and remain inactive for two federal election cycles,
will be removed from the rolls.
Full Text (712 words)
Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Sep 25, 2006
PROVIDENCE - When Scott Hacker decided to run for state Senate, he figured
he'd send a postcard introducing himself to the people he hoped to make his
constituents.
Hacker, a Republican candidate for a seat representing parts of Providence and
North Providence, got a voters list from the state Republican Party, based on
information from the secretary of state's office. The party had supposedly screened
the list, and Hacker limited his mailing to "perfect voters" -- people who had voted in
at least three of the past four elections, according to the database.
Hacker sent out 6,000 postcards. He says 550 of them were returned as
undeliverable.
Based on Hacker's case and several others, the state GOP is asking Secretary of
State Matt Brown to act immediately to clean up the state's voter rolls, the source for
the party's database.
"We are ripe for voter fraud in Rhode Island," party Chairwoman Patricia Morgan
said in a news release.
The Republicans also point to mailings by two East Providence City Council
candidates. In one case, 800 pieces of mail were returned out of 2,700 sent out. In
another race, 400 out of 2,700 came back.
The party provided a copy of a mailing related to this year's Republican primary for
East Greenwich Town Council. The mailer was returned to sender with
"DECEASED 1992" handwritten on the back.
The state's voting rolls are "like the Hotel California," says Chuck Newton, executive
director of the state Republican Party. "You can check in anytime you please, but
you can never leave."
Brown's office has pointed to new technology added under the 2002 Help America
Vote Act that includes a statewide, computerized Central Voter Registry. But the
office acknowledged last week that there remain numerous registered voters who no
longer live at the addresses on record.
Brown's office sent out letters in March asking voters to update the information on
file if it was no longer accurate. Of the 605,000 mailers that went out -- one to each
registered voter -- 72,000 were returned as undeliverable, office spokesman Peter
Kerwin said.
Kerwin said the office kept track of the mailers that came back, and in fact, that was
part of the point of the mailing. The voters whose mailers came back as undeliverable
will be marked "inactive" in the state's database. If a person shows up and votes, or
updates his voter registration at a city or town hall, his status will revert to "active."
But voters who don't do either, and remain inactive for two federal election cycles,
will be removed from the rolls.
Once two cycles pass and the bulk of those 72,000 inactive registrations are
removed, the rolls will be significantly more accurate than they are now, Kerwin said.
"Keep in mind, this is the first time anyone had done this kind of mailing for 20
years," he said.
Because Rhode Island is legally required to wait before removing names to avoid
disenfranchising voters, things "can't change overnight," Kerwin said.
Republican leaders said they were dissatisfied with that explanation.
"If you've got all these extra names that you can play with, all of a sudden you can
start busing them in from out of town," said East Providence GOP Chairwoman
Kathy Santos, who brought the East Providence cases to the state party's attention.
Santos and Newton asserted that the number of incorrect registrations is probably
even higher than the number of returned mailers, since the returned mailers don't
include people who moved but never signed up for forwarding through the U.S.
Postal Service, or people who continue to vote from addresses where they once
lived and can still receive mail, such as a parent's house.
Candidates for the seat Brown will vacate in January have suggested integrating
voters rolls with other records, such as real estate closings and death certificates, so
the names of voters who die would automatically be removed and the registrations of
voters who move would simultaneously be entered at the new address and canceled
at the old address.
It's imperative that the state act sooner rather than later, Newton said.
"Maintaining this list with some semblance of accuracy is no simple task," he said,
"but it's so central to the task of clean and fair elections."
egudrais@projo.com / (401) 277-7045
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