Just to clarify, cleaning or maintaining voter rolls does NOT mean purging the list of minority or otherwise eligible voters. It means removing ineligible voters from the list in compliance with the requirements in the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), Section 8. It’s the Law.

It may seem simple, and before 1993 it was. Remove those who died, those who have moved, those who are duplicate voters and those who have not bothered to vote in two successive federal elections.

But now--not so fast! Now there are federal and state laws that must be followed, primarily, the National Voter Registration Act, (NVRA).

Passed in 1993, the NVRA created a complicated system of voter roll maintenance. It mandated two voter rolls: “active” and “inactive”.

• Voters may not be removed from voter rolls for simply not voting.
  
• Voters who fail to vote in two consecutive federal elections should be mailed a special card to verify their address and their desire to remain on the active voter rolls.
  
• If a card is returned “undeliverable” or not returned at all, the corresponding voter is to be moved from the “active” to the “inactive” voter list.
  
  • “Inactive” voters must remain on the list for another two federal election cycles before they can be permanently removed.
    
  • During the time voters are on the “inactive” list, they are still eligible to vote. All they need do is show up at the poll location or make a phone call to request a ballot.
    
    • Since California has no voter ID requirement, anyone can easily impersonate a deceased or moved person on the inactive list and cast a ballot in their name.
      
      What’s worse, the simple action of voting moves that person’s name back to the active list, and the impersonation can continue indefinitely.

So, initially, there must be two federal elections (where Congressional Representative, Senate, or President/Vice Presidential candidate is on the ballot) with no voter activity before the first card can be mailed to the voter.

That’s four years of no voter activity. If the voter still remains inactive or unresponsive after two additional federal election cycles, the voter’s name can finally be removed from the inactive list.

Because of federal law, it can take at least eight years
to remove an individual from the rolls
unless there is clear evidence of death or relocation.

Even then, there is less than sincere effort on the part of elections officials to research deaths and relocated registrants with any vigor.

Eight years!
That’s a long time and a huge window of opportunity
for voter impersonation to occur.

Members of Congress must be convinced by consistent pressure from their constituents to revisit and completely overhaul and update the NVRA.

The time to start is now!