Replaced by Dreamers
Maryland’s voter registration rolls are bloated with names of dead people – an estimated 20,000 as revealed by a 2013 study from the state Republican party — and lawmakers are seeking a way to streamline the process of purging those names.
Currently, State Board of Elections officials must receive authentication of a death from the the Vital Statistics Administration, which is under the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene. Without that notification, they are not permitted to remove a name from the voter registration list without corroboration from the deceased’s family.
The House unanimously passed a bill last week from Del. Kathy Afzali R-Frederick County that would eliminate some of these tedious steps, she said. It passed with 135 votes.
HB 212 would allow the Board of Elections to use information transmitted from a Social Security Administration database as proof an individual had died, rather than wait for the family to verify, which can be awkward, Linda Lamone, state administrator for the Board of Elections, told lawmakers at the bill’s hearing in January.
“This enables [the Board of Elections] in keeping the voter rolls cleaner and allows them to get to other pressing issues,” Afzali said at the hearing.
HT Watchdog