San Joaquin County Registrar reports 48,000 recent voter‑roll updates; ongoing cleanup of anomalies and duplicates

Olivia, the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, told the Election Advisory Committee that the county’s voter rolls have seen roughly 48,000 updates — additions, corrections, moves and cancellations — in recent months and that staff are actively pursuing cleanup of anomalous and duplicate records.

In a detailed status update the Registrar said the voter roll is in constant flux and described the sources of updates, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, county agencies, the National Change of Address database and other statewide feeds. Olivia said the county has run additional checks and combined several verification methods to improve roll accuracy, but that legal limits in the Elections Code constrain removals.

Key figures Olivia provided: - About 48,000 record updates processed between the last certified election and the present reporting window. - Anomalous birth‑date entries historically included many showing an 1850 birth year; staff reduced those to about 30 remaining records and are continuing verification work. - A small set of records (12 at the time of the briefing) listed birthdates implying ages over 107 years; staff are investigating and contacting voters when appropriate. - Duplicate‑registration indicators once exceeded 1,100 across jurisdictions; Olivia reported that the county’s processes have reduced that figure to fewer than 30 active duplicates as of her review. - The office maintains a daily voter‑maintenance workload performed by roughly six full‑time staff dedicated to roll upkeep.

Olivia described steps the office is taking: enhanced tracking to show additions and removals, use of credit‑reporting sources for voter‑roll maintenance prior to major elections, ongoing coordination with the Secretary of State’s NVRA workgroup, and additional contact efforts for records with missing information. She said the county has changed how it releases certain voter lists: pending voter lists are no longer provided to requesters and public requests for voter files now require statutory criteria and proof of eligibility.

The Registrar emphasized legal constraints: voter registration is considered permanent unless canceled under specific provisions of the Elections Code, and county staff must follow the statutory process before removing a voter from the rolls. Olivia also said the sheriff’s office has assisted the elections division when investigations or outreach were needed.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about specific figures and about how state, county and local rules interact. Patricia and others asked for further documentation and the chair asked that staff include roll‑maintenance cost and process details in the financial analysis requested for the vote‑by‑mail/drop‑box discussion item.

Ending: The Registrar told the committee staff will continue work on the roll cleanup, improve reporting transparency to the committee, and return with requested materials at the next meeting.