Lomax, Miller say NYT got it wrong
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 | 3:01 p.m.
The state's top election officials are livid about a New York Times piece that raises questions about how Nevada purges voters. I have posted a link to the Times piece, a statement by Secretary of State Ross Miller and Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax's reaction when I asked him about it.
Miller:
NO ELIGIBLE NEVADA VOTERS WILL BE PURGED FROM THE ROLLS SAYS SECRETARY OF STATE ROSS MILLER IN RESPONSE TO MISLEADING NY TIMES ARTICLE
WWW.SILVERSTATE08.COM PROVIDES IMMEDIATE ACCESS FOR NEVADANS TO CHECK THEIR VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS
(Carson City, NV; October 9, 2008) – Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller issued the following statement today in response to an article published in the New York Times.
"Today, an article in the New York Times misleadingly reports that Nevada voters are being purged from Nevada's voter rolls due to records being unmatched with the Social Security Administration. Nevada state law requires that any eligible voter with an unmatched record appear on the voter roll. The Social Security Administration has been tasked by the Help America Vote Act to assist in the verification of certain registrants whose application cannot be matched with the state's DMV database prior to casting their ballots. In Nevada, for voter registration applications that cannot be verified through the DMV database and subsequently by the Social Security Administration database, the county clerks will send mail to those registrants to verify their information. If the clerk does not receive a response to the mail, these voters will be verified upon a showing of identification at the polling location, and will be able to cast their ballot.
"I want to assure Nevadans that any suggestion that eligible voters will be denied their right to participate in this election on November 4th is false. Further, the article erroneously implies that every unmatched record represents one unmatched voter.
"This will be the fourth statewide election in Nevada where this verification process has been used. We have established procedural safeguards to protect Nevada's citizens from complications due to unmatched records. In fact, my office has taken unprecedented steps in its ongoing efforts to enhance the accessibility of Nevada's elections process. Nevadans can check their voter registration status at www.silverstate08.com. My Voter File allows individuals to review their registration information. If they find discrepancies in their information, they may correct them by contacting their county clerk prior to Election Day. In the recent primary election, in which this system was used, none of these voters were denied their right to cast a ballot, and approximately 1.5% of Nevada voters were required to present a valid form of identification at their polling place. Given the anticipated record turnout, I have worked closely with county clerks and registrars of voters to have more polling locations than ever before across the state, with extended hours, and more machines available to meet demand."
Lomax:
"No one in Nevada has been removed from the rolls because his/her driver's license or last four of the ssn didn't match. Those folks are sent a letter that shows the data we provided to the agency and asked to clear up the discrepancy. The letter states that if they fail to do so, they will be required to show ID when they vote. If they do not respond, they are then flagged as "ID Required" in the roster book used at the polling place or in the early voting computers.
"No mismatches in Clark County are the result of data entered in the wrong fields. There is only one field in which the ID number can be entered, and whichever number the voter provided goes in that field.
"The computer program checks that the number contains the proper number of digits to be either an SSN or DL number.
"Finally, apparently the SSA states 740,000 checks were made and 715,000 were mismatches. In Clark County we have processed a record number of applications this year, about 350,000. If every application had the last four of the ssn (most people provide DL #s) and every one failed, we still wouldn't be half-way to the number in this article.
"Of the approximately 800,000 active voters currently in the data base, 28,607 currently show ID required, and 21,344 of the 28,607 show ID required because their data has not yet been crosschecked with DMV/SSA records. In other words, about 1%-1.5% of the voters will be required to show ID as a result of a mismatch."