The Kentucky Democratic Party has accused the state Board of Elections of “jumping the gun” by putting over 150,000 Kentucky voters on an “inactive list,” and removing them from the state’s voter rolls that were provided to the KDP, before two Federal general elections have taken place.
As part of its voter roll maintenance process, the BOE sends postcards to persons who the board suspects may have moved. If the person does not respond to the postcard, AND does not vote in the next two Federal elections in a row, the voter is moved to “inactive” status.
The problem, as the KDP sees it, is that the postcards were sent in 2018, and two general elections at the Federal level have not taken place. Therefore, no voters should have been moved to inactive status yet. But, when examining the voter rolls that the BOE sent to the KDP, the KDP discovered that numerous voters had been removed from the rolls.
After the KDP submitted an open records request to the board, the board sent the KDP a list of 167,113 voters that had been placed on inactive status. Now the KDP is asking that those voters be put back on the active voter rolls, since two Federal general elections have not taken place.
The letter from the KDP also notes that if the Board of Elections does not place those voters back on the active voter rolls, the KDP may take legal action.
We have reached out to the Board for a response. If we receive one, we will update this story.
Here is the letter sent by the Kentucky Democratic Party to the state Board of Elections:
September 16, 2019
Ben Self
Chair, Kentucky Democratic Party
190 Democrat Dr.
Frankfort, KY 40601
TO:
Albert B. Chandler III
Sherry Whitehouse
George Russell
Deanna Brangers
Dwight Sears
Joshua Branscum
Katrina Fitzgerald
James Lewis
Alison Lundergan Grimes
Kentucky State Board of Elections
140 Walnut Street
Frankfort, KY 40601
Dear Members of the State Board of Elections:
I am writing to you today on behalf of the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) to demand that the Kentucky State Board of Elections (SBE) immediately reactivate the registrations of more than 150,000 Kentuckians who were improperly placed on an “inactive list” in violation of KRS 116.112 and removed from the official voter registration statistics and voter registration data provided to the KDP as required by KRS 117.025(3)(h) on form SBE-84(5/18).
SBE deactivated the voter registrations of more than 150,000 Kentuckians behind closed doors with no public notice. The improper maintenance of a list of “inactive voters” will deny registered Kentucky voters who are entitled to vote in the upcoming election the right to do so, and will cause immediate and irreparable harm to the KDP, candidates for office, and most importantly, the public.
The KDP became aware of the “inactive list” after requesting voter registration data in August 2019. Data was provided to KDP by the SBE in which registered Kentucky voters appeared to have been removed from the file when compared to the data provided by SBE to KDP in April 2019.
In April 2019 the KDP received voter registration data which contained 3,421,795 registered Kentucky voters. In August 2019, the KDP received voter registration data which contained 3,259,076 registered Kentucky voters for a difference of 162,719 registered voters.
After checking publicly available official voter registration statistics on the SBE website, KDP further discovered that registered Kentucky voters appear to have been removed from the official voter registration statistics in July.
According to registration statistics published on the SBE website, there were 3,426,395 registered Kentucky voters statewide in June 2019. The statewide total for registered Kentucky voters for the month of July 2019 was 3,259,282 for a difference of 167,113 registered voters.
On Friday, September 6, 2019 the KDP submitted an Open Records Request for “any voters marked ‘inactive’ in the current voter file.” On Tuesday, September 10, 2019 the KDP received from Jennifer S. Scutchfield (Jenni), Assistant Executive Director/General Counsel for SBE, a list of 165,709 voters who “must update their information within two federal election cycles (November 2022).” A copy of the letter is attached at Tab A. The SBE website indicates that SBE began mailing address verification notices to voters in June 2018.
According to KRS 116.112(5), registered Kentucky voters are not eligible to be placed on an “inactive list” until “after the date of the second general election for Federal office that occurs after the date of the notice.” The requirements for maintaining an inactive list are reaffirmed in at page 6, paragraph 25 of the Consent Judgment [copy attached at Tab B] from July 2018, which states (emphasis added):
“As part of its list maintenance program, the Kentucky State Board of Elections is required by state law to maintain an inactive list. State law provides that when the State Board of Elections sends the notices described in KRS § 116.112(3) to registrants identified as having moved to a new country or state, the registrants who do not respond to the notice and do not vote or appear to vote for two federal election cycles are maintained on an inactive list. KRS § 116.112(5)…”
Based on the information provided in the response from SBE, and information available on the SBE website, these voters cannot be placed on an “inactive list” at this time because two federal elections have not yet occurred subsequent to the mailing of the notice in which it would be possible for them to fail to vote.
The earliest date that state law would permit these voters to be moved to an “inactive list” pursuant to KRS 116.112(5) would be November 2022.
The creation and maintenance of a list of “inactive” voters, and removal of voters from official voter registration statistics, who have not yet met the two federal election threshold is a violation of KRS 116.112(5). Removal from, and failure to provide, accurate voter registration data requested via form SBE-84(5/18) is a violation of KRS 117.025(3)(h).
The KDP is therefore demanding that SBE halt their “inactive list” policy and immediately reactivate voter registrations in compliance with state law. The KDP is also calling on the SBE to provide an explanation to the public at their next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 10 am.
If the SBE does not address these concerns with the public and immediately reactivate these registrants, KDP will begin exploring legal options available for protecting the rights of Kentucky voters.
Respectfully,
Ben Self
Chair, Kentucky Democratic Party
Enclosures
CC: Jared Dearing and Jennifer Scutchfield
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