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West Virginia Senate committee approves faster inactive voter process

West Virginia's Capitol dome is shown in Charleston, W.Va. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner, File)

CHARLESTON — The process used to move voters to inactive status in West Virginia’s voter rolls could be moved up by two years under a bill being considered by the state Senate.

The Senate Government Organization Committee recommended Thursday morning a committee substitute for Senate Bill 487, removing ineligible voters from active voter rolls, sending the bill to the full state Senate.

SB 487 proposes changes to West Virginia’s existing systematic purging program for removing ineligible voters from active voter registration files.

The bill would reduce the period of voting inactivity from four years to two years, meaning that voters who haven’t voted in any election during the preceding two calendar years and who haven’t updated their voter registration records would receive a confirmation notice from their local county clerk’s office and be moved to inactive status.

“What this bill does is it shortens that front-end time frame to send that confirmation notice,” said Donald “Deak” Kersey, chief of staff for Secretary of State Kris Warner. “Right now, it’s an eight-year process. This would make it a six-year process for someone that doesn’t have any activity.”

According to State Code, county clerks are required to begin a systemic purging program of inactive voters beginning Oct. 1 of each odd-numbered year through Feb. 1 the following year. County clerks are required to certify completion of the purging process to the Secretary of State’s Office by Feb. 15.

Maintenance of voter registration files is a responsibility of local county clerks, though the Secretary of State’s Office maintains a statewide voter registration database and assists county clerks in determining the eligibility of voters.

The Secretary of State compares voter registration data records across counties, with the Division of Motor Vehicles, the state registrar of vital statistics, and other state agencies to identify voters who may have moved or are deceased. Voter records are compared with U.S. Postal Service’s change-of-address information.

County clerks then mail confirmation notices to voters identified as potentially having moved. The notice is sent to the new address from the USPS, or the old address if a new one isn’t available. Voters who don’t respond to the confirmation notice or update their registration by Feb. 1 are designated as inactive.

Kersey provided an example to committee members of how the inactive voter registration process works.

“Let’s say I voted in 2016 general election. That’s the last election I voted in,” Kersey said. “In December of that year, I left the state and moved to Kentucky. I didn’t tell my county clerk because I was worried about moving. My voter registration will remain in an active status for four years under current law. So, until the 2020 general election, my voter registration will remain active.

“After the 2020 general election, under current law, county clerks will get a list from us of all the voters who are in that time period for four years with no activity,” Kersey continued. “In October of 2021, the folks who didn’t vote in the 2020 general will end up in a list of folks that get a postcard from the county clerk…If they don’t respond to that card or it comes back to the clerk as undeliverable by February of the following year, they’ll be moved to an inactive status.”

Inactive voters can become active voters again and return to the active voter registration file if an application is received to update the voter’s registration or to vote in any election while they remain on the inactive list.

“Voting resets the clock,” Kersey said. “Signing a petition resets the clock. And in West Virginia you have to update your driver’s license every five years. No matter when they update their driver’s license in this process, they will be within that time frame before they’re canceled as long as they update the license.”

Voters who remain on the inactive list during a period beginning on the date of the notice and ending on the day after the date of the second general election for federal office occurring after the date of the notice must have their voter registration file deleted.

The Secretary of State’s Office reported in December that more than 400,000 deceased, duplicate, out-of-state, convicted-felon voters, or otherwise ineligible registration files have been removed from the Statewide Voter Registration System since the 2016 election. During the same period of time, more than 333,000 new voters have been registered to vote.

More than 109,000 instances of possible abandoned voter registrations in West Virginia were identified as of December. Regular maintenance of voter registration files is also mandated by the federal National Voter Registration Act.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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