by Sarah Roderick-Fitch
Nearly 19,000 voters will be removed from the voter rolls in Virginia after the Department of Elections discovered death records had not been previously shared.
The Virginia Department of Elections has announced it has begun instituting improvements to cull its voter rolls of voters “who are known to be deceased.” General registrars made a request to allow more ways to confirm the death of registered voters.
As part of the department’s effort to adopt more efficient tools necessary for registrars to identify and confirm the deaths of registered voters, ELECT – the acronym the elections department goes by – reviewed its “data sharing relationship” with the Virginia Department of Health.
“After ELECT requested a review of all VDH death records going back to 1960, VDH discovered death records that had not been previously shared with ELECT,” according to a release. “After additional data analysis by ELECT staff, 18,990 records of registered voters were identified and will be sent to local registrars for processing.”
ELECT has also implemented the use of a national database, which allows registrars to verify the deaths of Virginia voters that have occurred outside the commonwealth. The department noted this issue had been particularly challenging for registrars confirming when deaths happened in out-of-state facilities. “This tool is particularly useful for general registrars who serve in areas bordering Virginia’s five neighboring states and the District of Columbia,” included in the press release.
As part of the newly “streamlined” process, ELECT created a form to allow family members of the deceased to report the death directly to the general registrar. Additionally, general registrars are now able to use obituaries as confirmation.
“As a result of these findings and process improvements, citizens can expect to see a significant number of names removed from Virginia’s voter rolls,” the release said.
“Maintaining the accuracy and security of our voter list continues to be a top priority for ELECT as the agency transitions to the new statewide voter registration system,” said Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections Susan Beals. “Through new mechanisms for updating our voter rolls, the department is working towards a best-in-class data voter registration list with the most accurate data available.”
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Sarah Roderick-Fitch is The Center Square’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Editor. She has previously worked as an editor, and has been a contributing writer for several publications. In addition to writing and editing, Sarah spent nearly a decade working for non-profit, public policy organizations in the Washington, DC area.
