Registrar explains voter‑roll process after lawsuit references Imperial County; county mailed large batch of notices starting in 2023

Imperial County Registrar of Voters Lindsey Dale told the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 19 that although Imperial County is mentioned in a lawsuit filed Oct. 30, 2023, by Judicial Watch and the Libertarian Party of California, the litigation is directed at the California Secretary of State and not the county.

Dale said the complaint cites the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s 2022 EAVES report, which listed 21 California counties that removed five or fewer registered voters between November 2020 and November 2023; Imperial County was included among those 21. She summarized the federal and state process for removing inactive voters under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) Section 8 and California election code: counties must send a series of confirmation notices and then wait through two federal general elections (four years) before canceling a voter for inactivity.

Dale said the county discovered that its election management system had not correctly recorded earlier confirmation mailings, so the county worked with its EMS vendor to correct the programming. She said that in September 2023, prior to the March 2024 primary election, the registrar’s office mailed roughly 88,000 compliant confirmation notices to inactive voters to begin the four-year removal process and that more than 20,000 additional notices have been mailed since. She called the process “ongoing” and described monthly mailings to identify inactive or moved voters.

Dale also described the statewide VoteCal system (California’s centralized voter registration database) and how it cross-checks records with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Social Security Administration and the California Department of Public Health to detect duplicates, deaths and other eligibility issues. She noted that AB 60 IDs (non‑citizen driver licenses issued under AB 60) are not used by the state for VoteCal identification matches.

On pending legislation, Dale said three bills introduced the day before could affect redistricting and the need for a special election: ACA 8 (a constitutional amendment giving the legislature authority to draw congressional districts for certain upcoming cycles), AB 604 (maps if ACA 8 passes) and SB 280 (which calls for a special election and, she said, would allocate funding for counties). Dale said the county association was actively monitoring those proposals.

Supervisor Ryan Elliott Kelly asked how many removals Imperial County reported in 2024; Dale said she would follow up with the specific number and noted the timing and multi-step nature of the NVRA process meant counts were not straightforward.