Committee advances bill removing state code reference to private electronic voter-registration vendor

Senators on the committee gave SB 142 a favorable report after sponsors and a representative of the secretary of state's office explained the measure removes a section of state code that currently allows use of a private electronic registration information center and directs use of a national database for voter-registration purposes.

Supporters said the change is technical and intended to update the statute to match the system the state now uses. A representative from the secretary of state's office told the committee the office has agreements with neighboring states and other states that use the same system, and that the update removes obsolete code that could allow the private vendor's system to be used in the future.

The committee discussion noted practical problems that registration officials face when voters move or die and the difficulty of keeping voter rolls accurate without shared databases. "When people die, nobody thinks to call the board of registrars ... People move oftentimes to adjacent states and you don't know that and we have no way of being able to track it," a senator said, adding the secretary of state's office can now get linked information that previously was unavailable.

Senators moved and seconded the favorable report without extended debate. Several senators voiced thanks to the secretary of state's office for the work to develop the system. The clerk called the roll and senators recorded "aye" responses; the committee reported SB 142 favorably.

SB 142 now moves from committee to the next step in the chamber's process.