LA County and State to Purge 1.5 Million Inactive Voters From Rolls

[diva77]

Inactive voter registrations usually occur when voters move to another country or state or pass away but remain on the rolls.
By City News Service
Published Feb 7, 2019 at 2:44 AM

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LA-County-and-State-to-Purge-15-Million-Inactive-Voters-From-Rolls-505494031.html

California and Los Angeles County have agreed to purge as many as 1.5 million inactive voter registrations across the state as part of a court settlement finalized Wednesday with Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group.

Judicial Watch sued the county and state voter-registration agencies in Los Angeles federal court, arguing that the state was not complying with a federal law requiring the removal of inactive registrations that remain after two general elections, or two to four years.

Inactive voter registrations usually occur when voters move to another country or state or pass away but remain on the rolls. The lawsuit alleged that Los Angeles County, with more than 10 million residents, has more voter registrations than it has citizens old enough to register with a registration rate of 112 percent of its adult citizen population.

The lawsuit also uncovered that neither California nor Los Angeles County had been removing inactive voters from the voter registration rolls for the past 20 years, according to Judicial Watch.

The settlement agreement, filed with U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real, requires all of the 1.5 million potentially ineligible registrants to be notified and asked to respond. If there is no response, those names are to be removed as required by the National Voter Registration Act.

SNIP

Prior to the agreement, Judicial Watch estimated that based on comparisons of national census data to voter-roll information, there were 3.5 million more names on various county voter rolls than there were citizens of voting age. The settlement could cut the number in half, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.

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As usual, Rethugs exploit every possible way to prevent Dems from voting.

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This was first reported on in Jan. 2019 (from what I found in google search). I'm not sure why this article came out today...will follow up if I find more info.

Meanwhile, if you have friends in Los Angeles County, CA who haven't voted lately, please urge them to check up on their voter registration!!!!!!!!!!!!

[More_Cowbell]

1. When I moved, my old CA county told me just not to vote

I called to tell them I'd registered in another county, but they said there was nothing they could do to take me off the roll. They told me I'd just "fall off" after I missed a few elections. They mailed me election materials, to my new county, for about two years. Crazy.

[diva77]

2. almost seems like a way for elections officials to set up people to look like they're committing

voter fraud

[DURHAM D]

3. Does this make sense? "two general elections, or two to four years"

Nope

I know some states clean up rolls if someone does not vote for two Presidential elections. Makes way more sense than above quote.

[diva77]

6. Agreed. The 2-4 yrs. seems severe. And of course, based on typical elections official/rethug

behavior, it's highly likely significant numbers of voters who should remain on the rolls will be "accidentally" purged.

[Igel]

12. Can't say about this case.

But usually if you're purged and go to vote you get a provisional ballot. If you're at the same address or in the same precinct, you voted after you confirm your address; if not, you didn't vote.

Where I live now, if you're removed from the polls you don't get a voter ID card in the mail. If you're going to vote, you usually know you should have one--they arrive months before registration deadline. Easy to make a call or check online to see if you're registered.

[eleny]

4. How can there be harm when those voters became inactive

It doesn't point to fraud because they aren't voting.

Hopefully the notice from the county will make people mindful of voting and they'll vote in the future if they're still alive and living in the county.

[diva77]

7. see post #6

[eleny]

8. Who determines who gets the notices?

If it's the county then there might not be too many accidental mailings. They need to do this asap to give people lots of time to respond before the next election cycle.

[diva77]

10. not sure (if I find out will follow up). Here's example of recent "accidental" registration problems

that have occurred in CA
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-dmv-voter-registration-error-20180905-story.html

More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by state DMV
By John Myers
Sep 05, 2018

Tens of thousands of Californians have been registered to vote incorrectly by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, including some who were assigned the wrong political party preference, officials said Wednesday.

Officials insist the errors were limited to 23,000 of the 1.4 million voter registration files sent to elections offices between late April, when California’s new automated “motor voter” system went into effect, and early August. Californians who were affected will soon receive notifications in the mail instructing them to check their voter registration status.

Jean Shiomoto, the state’s DMV director, and Amy Tong, director of the California Department of Technology, described the problem as “an administrative processing error” in a letter to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, California’s chief elections officer.
SNIP

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I think they eventually admitted to the number being much higher than 23,000

[wiggs]

5. Why is it so hard to determine if those inactive voters still reside in the State? Why risk purging

many many voters?

[former9thward]

9. What should they do?

Send an investigator to 1.5 million homes?

[nini]

11. I remember going to my polling place where there was another precinct in there too

I of course went to the wrong side and was surprised to see my deceased father on the rolls still. I told them he died about 12 years earlier. They had me sign some paperwork and identify myself as his daughter etc..

IF that's the kind of stuff they're doing then I see no problem with it. I was always under the impression if you missed 2 presidential elections you were dropped.

[diva77]

15. This is what they'd like you to believe; however, inevitably, deserving voters will be knocked off

the rolls and deprived of the right to vote (Dems being the target of the purges)

[nini]

26. Honestly.. this is a mixed bag

There's always shit going on and it isi our job to stay on top of it. Yea, I agree.

However, there seems to have been an issue with not purging the rolls for 20 years. Let us not forget republicans are also those who have died and/or left etc..

We must get a drive going to make sure people check their registration status etc.. I check mine before every election and encourage others to do so. We must fight back that way.

Also, I understand that was a right wing site that started this - and I agree with you on their intent. But the state and county fucked up too which is making it things harder for us. We must get to work and never take our foot off the gas.

[Igel]

13. I left LA in fall 1999.

You mean that all this time I could have still voted there?

I've been assuming when I've made posts about voter purges that somehow I had been removed.

I like that example--112% of the adult population is registered to vote.

At the same time, it makes all the voter-turnout numbers given in terms of percentage of registered voters into complete rubbish.

[diva77]

32. interesting angle regarding the voter-turnout numbers; I wonder whether the pollsters take any of

this into account

[LiberalFighter]

14. It would be so much easier to transfer their registration to another jurisdiction

if they moved. Otherwise, if they are still alive and live at the address they should remain.

[akraven]

16. All of my friends from "way down yonder" voted.

It seems you can purge even if they did. Best of all luck, LA - I'm not a city person but never disliked yours.

If Judicial Watch is on the move, expect good things, diva77. Also contact SPLC.

[diva77]

17. Judicial Watch is a right wing organization -- so I'm not sure I'm understanding what

you meant by "if Judicial Watch is on the move, expect good things"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch a bit of a mixed bag, I guess

[akraven]

18. They follow law, not people. SPLC does, too (more "left").

I know some attorneys who are members, and what they mostly are is sticklers for the Constitution.

[diva77]

19. Interesting. I guess the problems arise when trying to carry out constitutional duties --

I need to read up more on the legal justification for the voter purges -- but what I do know is that the way voters have been notified in the past has been with small flimsy postcards that look like junk mail which most people ignore, the result being that the recipient of the card fails to re-register and gets turned away or given a provisional (uncounted) ballot. I wish Judicial Watch would weigh in on that problem.

[akraven]

22. It's helpful to have attorney and paralegals as friends.

ANY ballot can be challenged - ANY. We always vote on paper and keep a copy. Don't expect JW to weigh in - as you said, they're right-wing oriented. Provisional ballots most anywhere just get tossed - I'm serious.

[oasis]

20. Judicial Watch needs to "move" to the sewer from where they sprang.

[diva77]

21. Do you have more info. on who's behind that organization? My understanding is that it is a wingnut

group, yet I'm a bit thrown by post #18

[akraven]

23. It is. But mostly more watchdog than wingnut. nt

[dalton99a]

24. Here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/us/politics/judicial-watch-hillary-clinton.html

Group's Tactic on Hillary Clinton: Sue Her Again and Again
By Jonathan Mahler
Oct. 12, 2016

[diva77]

27. Thank you! Will read this for sure!

[oasis]

25. Larry Klayman built JW by going after the Clintons for decades. nt

[diva77]

28. Thanks for info.

[Dem2theMax]

29. Californian here.

Both of my parents died in 2012, and I never received any voting materials in their names after they passed away.

And I would know, as I am living in what was their house, and using the same mailbox.

[diva77]

30. sounds like the rr/cc got it right in this case

[Dem2theMax]

31. I know.

I did all the proper things like notify Social Security, Etc., but I sure didn't tell the State Board of Elections to stop sending them ballots. Somebody figured it out and did the right thing.