Florida makes last ditch effort to block the vote - No Match No Vote

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Thursday, September 11. 2008

Florida makes last ditch effort to block the vote - No Match No Vote

You would think that after 2000, Florida would want to do everything it can to enfranchise voters. But no. Florida has decided to start enforcing the draconian "No Match No Vote" law that requires voters' personal information to match up with two different government databases. Given that Government databases contain errors, and often do not match each other, many voters will not match! Through no fault of their own. Florida is only one of four states doing this. North Carolina eliminated this rule in 2007. The "No Match No Vote" law will be enforced just weeks before the deadline to register to vote in Florida, right when about 20% of new voters are registered.

Florida's 'no match, no vote' enforcement could be too much, too late Mike Thomas COMMENTARY September 11, 2008
...So here we go again, with Republican election officials making decisions that disproportionately will affect Democratic voters in a crucial election now rated as a tossup in the polls.
....The verification law, commonly called "no match, no vote," first was approved by the Legislature in 2005.

It requires that applicants put an identifying number on voter-registration forms -- usually a drivers-license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. That number then is checked against state or federal databases to confirm the person's identity.

It sounds simple enough. But that's not the case.

People write down numbers wrong. Government clerks write down wrong numbers. An applicant might write his name as Mike Thomas on the form, but the Department of Motor Vehicles has him listed as Michael R. Thomas. These glitches disproportionately affect minority applicants. Asian names can be confusing. Hispanics can use different surnames. Blacks often use nontraditional spellings.
...the Florida Department of State suddenly announced it will begin enforcing the law. This comes as we face an Oct. 6 registration deadline for the November election
...those that are flagged will be kicked back to county election officials, who will have to contact the voters so they can fix the problem, all before Nov. 4.

Maybe I've lived in Florida too long to believe this will work.

Those voters who aren't contacted in time or don't see the letter will show up to vote only to be given a "provisional" ballot. To make it count, they will have two days to get to their county elections office and show identification.

Of course, low-income people with no transportation might be at a disadvantage here.

The No Match No Vote rule blocks many legitimate voters due to a clerical error. North Carolina ended the NMNV rule with legislation in 2007. Now in NC, if a person's info does not provide a match in the DMV and SS databases, the registration is flagged to require that the voter provide ID the first time they vote. The person is registered, but just needs ID that first time.(NC does not require voter id after first time voting.) This change was pre-cleared by the DOJ.

Florida is either the last or one of the last states still using the No Match No Vote rule.

Failing to match does not prove the person is inelligable to vote!

Florida's Secretary of State should be asked to provide data on the number of people rejected, and reasons for failing to match the databases, so you could see how many people are being disenfranchised.

We know that matching with the Social Security database is harder, more people fail. The Social Security dept does not provide a reason for the failure to match, so it is harder to correct! Registration forms use the last 4 digits of the SS number, and many people share the same last four digits. Add that to typos, name changes etc and you have a failure rate as high as 20%.

The simplest solution is to register the voter, flag their registration and require their ID to be examined the first time they vote. Once that ID is verified, the voter has a clear registration.

Here is an overview of how people failed to match in NC when the No Match No Vote rule was in place:

North Carolina Rejected Registrations - the Numbers

Data on Voter Registration "Matching" with the Department of Motor Vehicles and

with the Social Security databases:

2006 County DMV Validation Count 169,673
DMV Returned Valid 166,703

Number Rejected 2,970
Percent Valid Return 98.25%

Percent Not Valid 1.75

2006 County SSN Validation Count 61,337
SSN Returned Valid 48,693

SSN Rejected 12,644
Percent Valid Return 79.39%
Percent Not Valid 20.61%
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/dmv_ssn_vali...

http://www.ncvoter.net/provisional.html Here is the new policy in North Carolina, from a memo sent to all 100 county election directors:
Denials based on non-matching ID numbers

Under GS 163-166.12 (House Bill 1743), no denials shall be issued based on non-matching NC drivers license numbers or non-matching Social Security numbers. Due to the recent preclearance by Department of Justice, no automatic process for this issue has been developed in SEIMS; therefore you must MANUALLY remedy this dilemma:

In SEIMS, check "Attest to no ID"
In the comments box, enter "ON-MATCHING ID:[SS#: XXXX] OR [NCDL#XXXXXXXX]"