Voter Roll Clean Up: Sussex OV2 Team Leads the Way
APRIL YTD Stats 1,382 Voters Analyzed 266 Challenges to Sussex Dept of Elections
MAY YTD Stats 3,949 Voters Analyzed 795 Challenges to Sussex Dept of Elections
In March I drafted a short article with an attached video that showed that much of any potential fraud starts with the voter rolls. https://delawarecounts.com/p/it-all-starts-with-the-voter-rolls In simple terms, to be successful at certain types of cheating, a bad actor needs to match an “illegal name (1)” on the voter roll, with a ballot. Now, If the illegal name is removed and not there in the first place they can’t do that. That is what cleaning up the rolls is all about. Illegal here meaning not a valid Delaware voter due to move out of state or death.
In that article I alluded to an effort with which I was involved that was just getting started. I was providing some “prototype” training sessions to several, but one in particular named Barb, ran with it. At first she said I was coming at her with a “fire hose” of information, but she, and others she found on her own initiative wanted to do this stuff. They got together, and then BY ACTUALLY DOING, started to add tools, re-prioritize order of activities, match activities with volunteer capabilities and much much more that was not in my prototype sessions. That group is now finding references in the federal code related to election law of which I was unaware of the details. I just said to Barb, DO NOT SLOW DOWN, but you are coming at me with a “fire hose” of new information and it’s hard to keep up.
So what are these Sussex Superstars Doing? A few highlights are listed below:
Sussex OV2: Progress to Date
1. The Group: They are currently 21 strong and growing. While the group started out of the GOP Integrity effort they pride themselves as having members from other parties on the team and approaching this from non-partisan basis. Clean voter rolls helps everyone. This was initially key to cooperation with the Department of Elections.
2. Tools/ Product: They employ many tools, such as the Delaware Voter Rolls, other State Voter Rolls, County property records, True the Vote’s IV3, NCOA lists, obituary sites and many more to find suspected illegal names. When a situation is found, they document it in the product, a “Challenge Record”.
3. OV2: They call themselves OV2. On the face it stands for Operation Verify Voters but those on the inside know tongue in cheek it is also a bit of pride. While the team all loves True the Vote they have a higher “find rate” so the number in their name should be at least one better than that in IV3. It’s motivation!
4. Names: In April, they analyzed 1,382 names. With improving processes and more people on the task that number has increased by 2.5 X to 3,949 May. Are you going to sign up and help that increase again by multiples in June?
5. Challenge Records: To date, 1,000 names submitted to DOE for removal with over 40% of those removed to date and more occur as the DOE system processes their paperwork.
6. Vulnerabilities / Systemic Errors Discovered: The OV2 team has not only found the following example situations but they have been able to work interactively and co-operatively with the Department of Elections personnel to address the issues. Some of these are in negotiations and they are taking the lead to see if any processes adopted by the Sussex DOE can be done in Kent and Sussex too. Stay tuned.
6.1 DOE Choices: Given evidence of an illegal name, (for example that a person has moved) there may be multiple processes that the DOE can take for removal depending on the situation. In general it appears that they often chose the process that can take for up to four years for removal, rather than opting for those consistent with Federal Guidelines that could be used to justify removal of the name immediately. About 1/3 are removed pretty quickly upon certification by the “illegal” voter of that move out of state.
Interestingly, the DOE does receive notification from SOME states that a former Delaware voter is now registered there. When such government-to-government notification is received, that voter is immediately removed from Delaware. Delaware is a state that provides this notification to the previous state of a new voter in Delaware. This sharing information on new voters to their old residence state is a tremendous opportunity to keep double registration and reduce inflated voter rolls.
6.2 DOE Implementation of ERIC: While ERIC is touted as a tool that can help clean voter rolls, Delaware’s utilization of this tool shows that people are often confirmed as simultaneously being registered in two ERIC states at the same time. Additional process steps are being considered to perhaps prevent that from happening.
6.3 Voters who live in DE, but pass away in another state. Example a hospital over the line in PA or MD, or moving back to family member residence due to quality-of- life issues.
6.4 Voters registered at commercial addresses. This actually caused the Department of Elections to get involved due to finding hundreds of voters registered at private mail box address sites.
6.5 A single individual, with two valid State of Delaware voter ID numbers. (Very Rare).
7. Training of Candidates and Volunteer Door Knockers: More names can be removed quicker, if we can get confirmation of suspected illegal registration situations from the residents of a dwelling or a family member. Towards that end, the OV2 team is working to arm a few candidates with specialized voter rolls, forms, and training, that will help them recognize that a potential illegal name may be present at a residence BEFORE they knock on the door. Those trained will also know what they can do right there “ON THE SPOT” to help the occupants of the residence correct the situation, and in doing so they can protect their family from being accused of nefarious action if such action occurred in the future.
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When I told her I wanted to publish a report on this progress, Barb asked that I not put everyone’s contact information “out there”. With that said, I also agreed to collect names of those who have interest in getting “hands on” in such efforts. A new coordinator is coming up to speed in Kent County, and we are trying to get more people up and running here in New Castle County too. Another point, let’s say you are a candidate, or volunteer that has other interests. All the things you learn about the voter rolls and illegal names from this exercise will also be useful in those other efforts. The efforts are not mutually exclusive. You are already on the phone or at the door. With a little more knowledge…… two birds, one stone.
If you have an interest, drop me a line at dlesher3@comcast.net, or 302-559-9585 and we will get you hooked up and trained as demand requires. I’ll also be trying to re-vamp my trainings so we can incorporate and get the benefit of the things they are learning in Sussex. By the way, although she did request I not put the contact information out there in public……. if you are in Sussex and see anyone sporting an OV2 tee-shirt you might want to say thank you!!!
Note: 1) Illegal Names: While the term “illegal name” may spur visions nefarious individuals in a cloak and dagger movie, the “illegal name” is not necessarily that. Most often, they could be innocent situations such as when an adult child that moves away from home. It could also be a death. It could be a former residence of a house.
Just because the “illegal names” is on the list for an innocent reason doesn’t mean a “bad actor” can’t use it. After all, if we can find them, so can the bad guys. If we get the names removed, they can no longer find them. Even if they don’t get removed, the data can be used to “Challenge” a ballot, if for example a ballot with an illegal name shows up where absentee ballots are processed.