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Committee advances bill to verify permanent absentee voters before mailing ballots; Secretary of State opposes as written
Summary
The committee approved House File 14 96 to require verification checks before mailing absentee ballots to voters on the permanent absentee list; the Secretary of State’s office testified that its existing monthly checks (DVS, SSA, ERIC, death records) already address many of the concerns and said it would not support the bill as drafted.
The committee voted to recommend House File 14 96 to pass and be referred to the General Register after a hearing in which the Secretary of State’s office described existing processes for maintaining voter registration and flagged concerns about the bill as written.
Chair Quam said the bill would require that, before automatically mailing an absentee ballot to a voter on the permanent absentee list, election officials verify the record for deaths, moves or other changes using federal and state data sources. He described the measure as intended to reduce instances where ballots are mailed to ineligible addresses, citing an earlier example in which a ballot was mailed for a registrant who had died.
Nicole Freeman of the Office of the Secretary of State testified to committee members that her office already receives regular updates from Drivers and Vehicle Services (DVS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) that are used to verify identities and maintain registration accuracy. Freeman described additional upkeep tools the office uses: postal verification cards (non-forwardable), national change-of-address data, reports from other states, monthly death-record feeds from the Department of Health and SSA, reports from the Department of Corrections, and membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a multistate data-sharing consortium.
Freeman told the committee the verification sources cited in the bill are already part of routine maintenance and that the Secretary of State’s office would not support the bill as drafted. Committee members who supported the bill said they wanted an added layer of certainty that ballots are not mailed to deceased or relocated voters and said they would press for verification procedures; supporters argued the bill could prevent the specific example earlier cited and improve public confidence.
Chair Quam renewed his motion to recommend the bill to the General Register; members voted by voice and the chair announced the bill passed and would move forward.
