Citizens should expect the voting process for electing government representatives at all levels to be efficient and of the highest integrity.
Indiana’s system in recent years has at times been manipulated for political purposes — the voter ID system is a prime example. But in other ways it has made progress, and one of those involves an aggressive program to remove old and inactive registrations.
Over time, as a community’s registered voters die, move away or otherwise become inactive, the voter rolls become bloated. When that happens, they don’t accurately reflect the number, or even identities, of voters on the rolls.
Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson has been spearheading a statewide initiative to “refresh” the state’s voter lists. As our Sue Loughlin reported in Wednesday’s Tribune-Star, 696,000 registrations have become “inactive” as part of program so far.
Part of the process has been a postcard drive to identify invalid voter registrations. If a county participating in the program does not receive a response to its mailing, a voter is placed on an inactive list. That voter can still vote in the next election. Being on the inactive list simply means a voter did not update or confirm information. If the voter casts a ballot from that address in November, the record will be reclassified as active. If an inactive voter does not vote in November, he or she can still vote in the municipal elections of 2015 and the federal elections of 2016.
If a voter does not cast a ballot in any election before January 2017, the county voter registration office will remove that record from the poll list. Although it takes time, it’s a good system that is not intrusive on active voters. All they need to do is keep voting.
In Vigo and Sullivan counties, officials estimate 16 to 19.9 percent of voter records are inaccurate. In Parke County, more than 20 percent are inaccurate.
Participating in the program isn’t cheap for counties, but finding funds to keep voter rolls accurate is a worthwhile investment.
The state program will produce results and make elections more credible. We urge officials in our area counties to press forward and take advantage of the initiative.