IN: GOP purging voter rolls

[kpete]

August 1, 2006

GOP purging voter rolls
Election Board approves the action despite objections from Democrats

Republicans may continue purging names from the Marion County voter rolls despite Democrats' concerns that some voters could be disenfranchised.

In an emergency meeting Monday, the Marion County Election Board sided with Republicans, who were concerned about potential voter fraud due to people registered in more than one location and deceased voters who were never taken off the books.

The Election Board voted 2-1 in favor of allowing Republicans to continue purging names.

The controversy began Friday when Republicans started removing the names of voters they thought were ineligible. The names came from a list supplied by a vendor contracted by the secretary of state's office that indicated about 36,000 Marion County voter registrations were questionable. Republicans were certain that about 4,500 of those names should be purged immediately. Purging of additional names also is being considered.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/NEWS02/608010415/1008

[OneBlueSky]

1. this will be happening all over the country as BushCo and . . .

their minions prepare to prevent the Dems from taking control of either the House or the Senate in November . . . their political lives depend on it -- and so does their freedom from prosecution for the myriad of U.S. and international laws they've violated in the past five years . . .

[WCGreen]

2. Unfortunately, it s perfectly legal...

You see the voter roles are reactive, they stay the same until something tells them otherwise...

I went through the Cuyahoga County Voter List a couple of years ago to verify numbers for a candidate running in Cleveland...

I found about 10% of the voters were duplicates, moved or were deceased....

It just seems very suspicious that the GOP is all fired up now, so close to the election so that there is little time to check....

ALthough the Dem's do have the right to challenge any purge....

[ThomCat]

3. This is doing something illegal under cover of doing something legal.

Cleaning the voter rolls is necessary and should be done continuously. But purging people should always be looked upon suspiciously when it's one side (or their agents) doing it.

[WCGreen]

7. The Democrats should be there challenging each and every voter...

They have the right to do so....

[ThomCat]

9. I agree. But if the board of elections is stacked

then there isn't much they can do but sue, and the republicans have the courts stacked too.

[WCGreen]

10. The Board should be split between Dem's and republicans...

equally...

[ThomCat]

12. If the republicans are in lock-step

then even one Lieberman type democrat stacks the board. :(

[WCGreen]

13. You won't know until you try now will you....

[clmbohdem]

5. How do you know if you have been purged?

Other than finding out on election day, is there a way to find out? I wonder if the Dems have people peridocial checking for when the GOP does this crap.

[WCGreen]

6. You as a citizen can go to the board

and demand to see the list of people purged....

You can also call the BOE to see if you are still registered....

Remember, they are there to serve you!!!!!

[AndyA]

4. The Dems need to take out advertisements in these areas telling

people that due to the Republican purging of voter rolls, they may not be able to vote again unless they check with their local election board. This should be directed at registered Democrats, of course.

This would also be yet ANOTHER negative for the GOP, which the voters can think about as they head to the polls.

[LisaM]

8. That's actually a really good idea

someone should suggest it to the Marion County Democrats.

[WCGreen]

11. Really....

Maybe Move On could run ad's ....

As a public service announcement...

Hell if I had a video cam, some time and a program, I'd do a commercial and put it on the web....


Show a guy or gal going to vote, all happy like and the person at the poll tell them they are not on the roll and can't vote...

Voice over....

Don't let this happen to you...

Conservative interests are at it again, trying to take your vote away from you...

But you can fight back...

Make sure you are registered before the time to register has passed...

Contact your Board of elections just to make sure...

If it can happen in Ohio and Florida.... It can happen to you...

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. MORE BAD NEWS: 1 in 4 Indiana Voter Records may be Inaccurate

More bad news, and while I visited the Indiana SOS website,
could not find anywhere for voters to verify their registration status.
In NC, we have been able to look up our registration for a year or two.

For Immediate Release: Contact: AJ Feeney-Ruiz
August 1, 2006 317.233.8655

Statewide Mailer Identifies 1 in 4 Indiana Voter Records may be Inaccurate

Indianapolis, IN - Today, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced that the state's mailer designed to identify and remove inaccurate voter records has identified more than one million records that may be inaccurate, affirming that the state's voter rolls are seriously inflated. The state has sent a follow-up mailer to the addresses on those records requesting confirmation that the voter no longer lives at that location, in accordance with federal law.

In an effort to clean up the inaccuracies on the state's voter list, Indiana's Election Division sent more than 4.3 million postcards to the addresses listed on every Indiana voter record. The mailing was designed to automatically return-to-sender all registrations that are no longer accurate. While initial estimates were that 675,000 postcards would be returned to the state, the final number posted by the July 21 deadline coming to 1,018,008. Undeliverable postcards continue to roll in after the deadline, with more than 70,000 additional cards collected to-date. Unfortunately, due to delays in getting one of the state's two major political parties to sign off on the cleanup plan, the additional postcard records cannot be removed until 2010.
http://www.in.gov/sos/press/2006/08012006.html

*** The deadline to register to vote in the General Election is October 10, 2006***

290,522
Potential duplicates identified by SVRS*
* This number is the result of preliminary tests checking voter files against the following criteria:
First Name, Last Name, DOB; Drivers License Number; Social Security Number (SSN); and DOB and last four digits of SSN.
Based on this data, a percentage probability of being a duplicate is applied to the registration, and all records with a probability of greater than 50% are flagged for review as a "potential duplicate."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

28,845
Potential matches of deceased voters identified by SVRS*
* Based on a review of a 10 year backlog of 656,512 deceased Hoosiers is currently being reviewed and readied to match voter records on SVRS to identify records for deceased voters. Since February 9, 2006, 7,435 potential deceased voters have been identified with 55% of reviewed records cancelled thus far.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4,359,537
Current Indiana voters on SVRS*
* 3,907,824 of these records are for active voters while 451,713 have been flagged as inactive (voters failing to vote in at least the last two general elections).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6,929
Incarcerated voters identified by SVRS*
* Since February 9, 2006, 6,929 potential incarcerated voters have been identified with 94% of reviewed records cancelled thus far.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

268,141 voters have been added to Indiana's Statewide Voter Registration System since coming online.

90,938 Voter Registrations have been received electronically from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles since the agency linked to SVRS on 1/23/2006

http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/SVRS.html

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. I am wondering about the connections and history of the "vendor"

that is supplying these mysterious lists of mostly Dem voters to be purged. I'll bet digging will reveal a slimy trail.

See how blatant they are. They believe they are unstoppable.

[clmbohdem]

16. I plan to contact my county BOE tomorrow

I hope that when voters are purged in my county, there is some sort of attempt to contact them. If not, maybe DU should start a grassroots effort to contact the purged Dem voters.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. 1 out of 4 registered voters may be removed

this is now posted in the Indiana state forum, but I see
little activity there.

Maybe this needs to be written about elsewhere too.

This is far more serious than I thought when I first glanced
at the article.

I also dont' see any way for voters to verify their
registration from the SOS website.

In NC, we can go online and type our name in a blank and
pull up our registration info and voter history.

[clmbohdem]

19. I plan to fight to protect Delaware County Ohio

I have an email into Delaware County Ohio BOE and will do what I can to protect my fellow Dems. Franklin County Ohio is probaably more of a target, like it was in 2004 (10 hour lines to vote). DeWine must go!

[freedomfries]

23. WISHTV about the vendor

An I-Team 8 Investigation
Rokita Denies Favoritism in Choice of Local Company

This was posted before the primaries, on Feb 24, 2006 10:45 AM EST
I-Team 8's investigation "Will Your Vote Count?" has exposed how the same old voter registration problems that occurred last election could happen again this May. In the last election, thousands of eligible voters were disenfranchised when their names were left off the list. That could happen again in May. There's a new solution in place in the form of a new statewide voter registration list, but that isn’t solving the problems.

Our investigation looked at the company that built the state's new voter registration system - the one that is supposed to help prevent those problems.

Quest Information Systems of Indianapolis had never built a voter registration system before, but it beat out six other competitors for a contract worth more than $10 million.

"For the first time in the history of this state, and all the states really, we're going to have one single list of voters," said Todd Rokita, Indiana secretary of state.

However, I-Team 8’s investigation discovered that the new database is not finding duplicates to eliminate potential fraud, and it can't guarantee people won't be wrongfully removed from the list.

http://wishtv.com/global/story.asp?s=4544682

[Nothing Without Hope]

28. Important information. Who is "Quest Information Systems"?

I'll bet they're a sprout off of one of the neocon-funded vote purge/election fraud efforts. People familiar with these organizations, like, say, Land Shark and Brad of BradBlog, might well know more.

I recommend your PMing Land Shark here at DU and also emailing Brad Friendman about this at BradBlog (http://www.bradblog.com). His email address is [e-mail].

Brad may even already be investigating this. If not, he needs this information. I'd be willing to contact him if you don't want to - let me know if I need to take action here.

[ananda]

17. Why do Reeps do the purging?

Shouldn't it be bipartisan and agreed on by both sides?

What the fuck!?

[freedomfries]

20. IndyStar Letter to the Editor Website

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=OPINION01
:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[formercia]

21. I was going to comment

but I am so disgusted that I will refrain lest I be seen in a bad light.

[Febble]

22. K&R

[livvy]

24. Here is some info about the vendor, Quest.

Quest is an Indiana based company (started 1989) that uses a software program called "First Tuesday" that can be programmed to meet the needs of each client. It is teamed with Microsoft and in 2005 signed an agreement with Unisys.
More info here:
http://www.questis.com/solutions/FirstTuesday.asp

Here is a pdf link for "First Tuesday". Not much info here that isn't at the link above.
http://www.questis.com/pdf/firsttuesday_datasht.pdf

This pdf link is labeled "confidential" and states "THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR THE CONFIDENTIAL USE OF
THE INDIVIDUAL OR ORGANIZATION TO WHOM IT WAS
PROVIDED BY QUEST."
http://www.questis.com/pdf/HAVA_SWVR_WhitePaper.pdf
On page 9 of the document it states:
The Quest solution is fully-featured and comprehensive – able to meet the needs of users at all
levels. Built specifically for HAVA and developed using state-of-the-art, secure, web-based tools, the
system can be delivered at lower cost than traditional client-server or decentralized solutions and
includes the following functional modules:
· Voter Registration and Maintenance (required)
· Interface with NCOA and Address-Checking software
· Imaging and Scanning of documents
· Bar-Coding on reports and correspondence
· Street File Management and Jurisdictional Boundaries
· Absentee Voting
· Petition Processing
· Poll Resource Management
· Jurisdiction (County) Management
· Candidate Management
· Provisional Ballot Management
See Appendix 1 for more detail on each of these modules.
pg 16 gives these contact names:
For more information, please contact. I didn't post their email or phone numbers, but they are on pg 16:
· Bill McCully
VP Public Sector Business Development
· Chris Horne
Executive VP & COO

On page 18 as part of appendix 1:
Quest also provides software development services, which may be used for needs such as:
· Public website for provisional voters using their DLN, SSN or number assigned to provisional
ballot to check the status of their vote.
· Public website for voters using their DLN, SSN, or address information to inquire on polling
places and county registration office information.
· Public website that displays county and state office and election information.
· Provide software to interface with voting equipment software to automatically capture and
report vote totals or other information

The remaining pages add details about the services they offer (functional modules above)

Here is the link to the press release about Pilot counties testing first statewide voter registration system.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (June 1, 2005) - Quest Information Systems, Inc. has begun testing of Indiana’s new Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS). The testing is taking place in select pilot counties throughout the state.
http://www.questis.com/PressReleases/PR_050601_SVRS_Pilot.asp

Homepage:
http://www.questis.com/index.asp

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

25. its more a conscious decision on SOS part

Who gets purged depends on the decision makers choices - not the data base provider.

The data base provider filters the lists, and shows registrations
that meet certain criteria (last 4 ss digits, different name, two people
with same name same data in different locations).

The SOS then must make good faith attempts to confirm which "duplications"
are truly duplications.

In North Carolina, we have had a statewide voter registration database
for a year or two, and almost every single county (of 100) has been
on it already.

Our SBOE's policy is this - when in doubt - you DONT remove the person from
the registration roster.

Only when absolutely 100% certain.

And that is after going through the processes.

The deliberate disenfranchisement of voters tends to be
pushed by partisan Secretary of States.

In North Carolina, our SOS has nothing to do with election administration,
and we don't have this going on. Any attempts to disenfranchise voters
would be on a more limited and spotty basis in pockets around the state.

[livvy]

27. Yes, I understand that.

I'm just trying to provide some basic info on the company, itself.

[livvy]

26. Interview with McCully,VP Public Sector Business Development-Quest

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4547614
>snip
I-Team 8 did some research on Indiana's campaign finance database, which Quest built for the Indiana Election Division. We noted that the company donated heavily to one party, as did he and his wife, CEO Steve McNear, and Sarah Taylor.

McCully: "I'm a political person. And I always have been. I started out in life working in politics. I've been active in Republican politics for 25 years. I'm a Republican, so I supported Republican candidates. I've also supported Todd Rokita because I believe, very strongly, that he has had the right vision for being able to take this state forward in election reform. He's established a national reputation among the National Association of Secretaries of State, and in other areas (he's) really positioning Indiana at kind of the forefront of election reform."

I-Team 8 asked about the appearance, that Quest is "hooked up." That there's a conflict of interest. From his point of view, he's serving his own interest. The company's going to get a quid pro quo – something in return – because the company and its employees are good Republicans.

McCully: "That's an appearance. But that's not a fact. I don't know of any circumstances whatsoever that we've gotten any kind of favorable treatment or quid pro quo or anything like that. We have been at the table, supporting the secretary and the governor and the state party and the county party. As you said, people can draw what conclusions they're gonna draw. "
>more