Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Elections Voter Registration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee adopts substitute to shorten voter-roll purge timeline by two years
Summary
The committee accepted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 487, reducing the state inactivity threshold used to begin the federal removal process from four years of no voting activity to two years; the change reduces the total federal process from eight years to six years for voters with no activity.
The Senate Government Organization Committee accepted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 487, a bill requested by the Secretary of State's office that shortens the state inactivity threshold for voter-roll purges. Under current state law, a voter who has not voted or otherwise contacted state officials for four years becomes eligible to begin the federal process that can ultimately lead to cancellation; the substitute would reduce that threshold to two years. Committee members voted to adopt the substitute by voice and the committee substitute will be reported.
Deke Kerji, chief of staff for the Secretary of State, described how the current process works and how the change would affect the timeline. Kerji explained that, under current state practice, a voter who last voted in 2016 would remain on active rolls through the 2020 general election; if the voter had no subsequent contact the county clerk would mail a confirmation postcard in October 2021. If the confirmation is not returned or is undeliverable, the voter is moved to inactive status and federal protections begin. Kerji said, “Once you're made inactive after not responding updating online, etcetera, you have to go through 4 federal elections. It's 2 federal election cycles before the clerk can cancel you.” He summarized the net effect: “Right now, it's an 8 year process. This would make it a 6 year process for someone that doesn't have any activity.”
Kerji told the committee the office uses multiple data sources to identify likely movers or ineligible registrants, including national change-of-address data, deceased-person reports, state-to-state data-sharing agreements with some states (Kentucky, Florida, Virginia and others), and commercially available data such as Experian. He said the group affected by this change is “a very small number” but that most of those on that list have left the state or registered elsewhere.
Committee members asked how an inactive voter can retain the ability to vote. Kerji said a voter moved to inactive status can still vote and that voting or updating a driver's license will reset the timeline; he said, “That doesn't mean anything for your ability to vote” while inactive. A senator asked whether registering in another state triggers notice to West Virginia; Kerji said there is no universal mandate, but West Virginia has data-sharing agreements with several states and uses multiple data sources to identify out-of-state registrations.
The committee substitute also removed an inadvertent line in the bill title, counsel said. The committee adopted the substitute by voice vote; the substitute will be reported out of committee for further processing.
Votes at a glance: Committee adopted the committee substitute for Senate Bill 487 by voice vote; no roll-call tally was provided.
