CONNECTICUT, USA — The emails keep coming into FOX61, writing about an application for a CT absentee ballot sent to someone who has died, an application sent to a person living in another state for the past three years and an application sent to a woman using her maiden name. They’re all pointing out errors in the system, but the Secretary of the State’s Office says there are most likely reasons behind each one.
“Town registrars are the ones that keep up the list, and they’re not always up to date, but frankly that’s not a problem as long as that dead person doesn’t vote,” said CT Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.
The office says sometimes, a voter hasn’t updated his or her information or in some cases, updated information does not make it to the towns. For example, if a voter dies in another state and that state doesn’t share information with Connecticut or the town, the town has no way of knowing that person passed away.
The same can be true if someone moves out-of-state and doesn’t update voter information. After two complete federal election cycles of a voter not voting, which is four years, the office says the voter would be mailed a canvass postcard to be returned. If it’s not returned, the voter would be removed from the active voter list. Also, when registrars are informed via an election official in another state that a former Connecticut voter has registered to vote in another state, that voter is removed from Connecticut’s voter rolls.
“Our lists are pretty good by national standards,” said Merrill.
Connecticut is a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center or ERIC, which includes 30 states that share voter registration and vital statistics information.
It also has automatic voter registration at the DMV and Election Day Registration, which allows people who recently moved to register on Election Day and update their information.
As for the questions FOX61 has been receiving about voter fraud, we asked the Secretary of the State what safeguards are in place to ensure that no one can break the law and vote under the name of a person who moved or died.
“I would caution people don’t even begin to think about sending in an application for an absentee ballot for someone who has passed away. The best thing you can do if you get that is let the registrars know that that person should be taken off the list,” said Merrill.
It is also a felony in Connecticut which carries up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, not to mention the federal and civil rights charges that could be brought against you. The office says because of the systems in place and information sharing nationwide, it would show up that the person voted twice. It would come back to Connecticut via ERIC, National Change of Address data, or when the person registered to vote at his or her new address.
“Many, many checks and balances in place to make sure that doesn’t happen. And by the way, there is absolutely no evidence that it happens on even a minor level in Connecticut,” said Merrill.
While municipalities take steps to ensure accurate voter rolls, there are 2.2 million registered voters in Connecticut. To make sure your information is correct, go to myvotect.gov/lookup and then follow up with your local registrar if any changes need to be made.