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State Voter Registration Databases Immediate Actions and Future Improvements: Interim Report (2008) / Chapter Skim
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C Data Issues
Pages 41-47

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From page 41...
... The NVRA also requires public assistance and disability service agencies to provide voters with voter registration forms that voters complete manually and then return to the agency or department for delivery to the voter registrar, or to certify in writing that the individual applying for assistance or service has declined the opportunity to register to vote.1 (However, the committee also recognizes that election officials are not generally in the chain of command for these agencies, a fact that often leads to a certain amount of bureaucratic politics as Agency A seeks to persuade Agency B to help carry out the mission of Agency A.) The availability of registration forms in these many locations increases the opportunities for eligible voters to register, but can also result in duplicate registrations that are sent to election agencies, and if voters themselves fill out the form manually, they can and do make mistakes.
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From page 42...
... For example, Jim Dickson of the American Association of People with Disabilities testified to the committee that the volume of voter registration applications received from state social service and disability agencies (a service to potential voters that the NVRA directs these agencies to provide) has dropped significantly since the initial implementation of the law in 1995, although the committee notes that the causality of this drop remains unclear -- that is, it is unknown whether this drop reflects failures in the social service agencies to meet their legal obligations; a change in the demographics and/or preferences of those applying for social services; problems in conveying completed applications to voter registrars; or some other reason(s)
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From page 43...
... Punctuation al-Amin al Amin Omitted middle name or initial John Philip Pierce John Pierce a Handwriting assumed to be readable. SOURCE for all rows but the last: Justin Levitt, Wendy R
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From page 44...
... For instance, if a state VRD file has dates of birth corrected using a semiautomatic procedure that utilizes matching with a state DMV file, then incorrect matching or an erroneous date of birth in the DMV file will induce error in the state VRD file. Subsequent matching against state social services files or SSA files to determine whether an individual is deceased will either fail or possibly induce additional error.
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From page 45...
... To help minimize keying errors, registrars might ask individuals with access to the relevant facilities to correct their information online through a Web site; security would be provided by a special code or password returned to the individual with the data correction request to ensure that only the proper individual could view or correct the information. Electronic Transmission of Voter Registration Applications Important sources of voter registration applications include departments of motor vehicles and social service agencies.
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From page 46...
... Discrepancies between the voter's registration information as represented in the VRD and data in these other databases are indicators of possible errors in the VRD, but in most cases voter registrars are required by law or policy to follow up on such discrepancies by contacting the voter to inquire as to which information is accurate -- the voter database or the other database used in the match. Third-party data, or secondary data, of high quality can be used to reduce ambiguity in recordlevel matches because they can be used to associate the same identity with a different record using data values based on a different time period or on differences in the values recorded.
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From page 47...
... In addition, government matching with third-party datasets raises privacy concerns (such as concerns if credit header data is merged with voter history data, for example)
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Key Terms

  • voter registrars
  • data capture
  • registration forms
  • social service
  • service agencies

  • improving data
  • data quality
  • data entry
  • additional error
  • registration information

  • registration database
  • voter registrar
  • registration drives
  • registration applications
  • state social

  • secondary data
  • header data
  • induce additional
  • state vrd
  • correct information

  • electronic transmission
  • dmv file
  • main administrative
  • vrd file
  • motor vehicles

  • election officials
  • privacy concerns
  • credit header
  • database matching
  • justin levitt


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