How we keep our voter registration database up to date
Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 24, 2022
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office has received inquiries related to a group of organized individuals who have visited the homes of some voters in our county. This committee is a private organization. This group is not affiliated with the Clallam County Auditor’s Office, Elections Division, or any other County Office. Our election staff never goes door-to-door; we contact our voters by mail, phone, or email and work with other government entities to keep our voter registration database current.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office updated over 5,000 voter records in 2021 for nearly 57,000 registered voters. Making sure the voter rolls are up-to-date is a top priority for our voter registration staff throughout the year. We work with our partners at the local, state and federal levels every day to ensure our voter rolls are accurate.
Examples of these updates include:
• 677 voter registrations canceled by voter request
• 859 voter registrations canceled because the voter died
• 1,072 voter registrations moved to inactive status due to undeliverable returned mail. (Inactive voters do not receive a ballot unless they contact us and update their address.)
The Auditor’s Office works with trusted sources including the Office of the Secretary of State, the Social Security Administration, the United State Postal Service National Change of Address Program, the Department of Licensing, the Department of Health, the Department of Corrections, the Clallam County Coroner’s Office, and the Office of the Administrator of the Courts to maintain the accuracy of voter registration data.
The Auditor’s Office also removes registrations of deceased persons using published obituaries or written notices from a registered voter who has knowledge of a deceased voter. RCW 29A.08.510.
Additionally, Washington State is a member of ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center). ERIC uses sophisticated data matching software that compares voter registration and motor vehicle licensing data across 31 other states. ERIC reports help us ensure voters aren’t registered in multiple states.
“We understand the most important partners in this effort are our voters,” Shoona Riggs, Clallam County Auditor said. If voters receive a ballot for a deceased voter, a voter who has moved, or anyone who does not live at that address, they should contact the Auditor’s Office. Voters should return the ballot through the USPS by writing “Deceased” or “Not at this address” and deposit it in the mail. When the postal service returns those ballots to our office as undeliverable, we can cancel or inactivate the voter according to state and federal law.
Clallam County elections staff spend hundreds of hours each year updating voter rolls. We use every resource we can legally access to make sure we are sending ballots to the right people and places.
In addition to updating the voter rolls daily, every ballot signature is verified by a trained election professional. Further, comparing and matching ballot signatures to signatures in our voter registration database enables us to verify that the ballot is returned by the voter.
