JULY 12, 2005

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land today announced a new initiative designed to help clean up Michigan’s voter lists.

The program will assist local officials in complying with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and improving the state’s Qualified Voter File (QVF) by facilitating the process for removing the names of truly inactive voters.

"It is clear that our local officials are struggling with this, as we have more than 800,000 names on our files with registrations dating prior to 1998 -- yet no voter history," said Land, Michigan’s chief election officer. "While there is no evidence of wrongdoing involving these files, it is imperative that we further reduce the potential for fraud. We can do this by identifying whether these are people who have moved without changing their address on their voter file, voters who now live in another state or those who are deceased. To help ease the burden for local government, we are using federal funds to reimburse the costs involved for communities committed to these efforts."

As a result of Michigan’s consolidated election law, local election officials are re-issuing voter identification cards, which helps officials identify names that need to be removed from the voter files. Under Land’s plan, the state will use Help American Vote Act (HAVA) funds to reimburse local officials for costs associated with the voter card mailing. Cards returned by mail as "undeliverable" are noted on the voter files and a subsequent confirmation notice is sent indicating that their registration will be canceled if they fail to vote in the next two federal election cycles, or fail to respond to the notice. Federal elections are held only in November of even years.

It is important to note that throughout this process these voters continue to appear on precinct lists and are treated exactly the same as all other voters.

Land has vowed to keep Michigan ahead of the curve by accelerating the cleanup of the voter registration lists. To supplement the card program, the department is purchasing records from the Social Security Administration to identify voters who are deceased.

"Michigan has long been recognized as a leader in election administration," said Land. "We were the first in the nation to create a Qualified Voter File, and while it’s served as a model for the nation, constant vigilance is necessary to keep it accurate. While our local election clerks have been working on this, much work remains."

Michigan’s QVF was created in 1998. Prior to its creation, more than 1,500 local officials managed voter lists in a highly decentralized fashion. The QVF was created from lists provided by local officials, which likely included the names of deceased voters, as well as many duplicate names. Duplications resulted from:

• women listed by both their maiden and married names
• voters who used nicknames as well as full names
• voters who moved to new voting jurisdictions and were registered twice

Michigan’s Bureau of Elections, which maintains the QVF, eliminated approximately 600,000 duplicate names when the file was created, and continues to reconcile name changes. Prior to 1995, local election officials also regularly purged the names of those who had not voted for a five-year period. This practice was abolished by the NVRA in 1993 and served as the impetus for creating the QVF.

For more information about the QVF and Help America Vote Act, visit www.Michigan.gov/sos.