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Pew Study: almost 2 million on active voter registries are actually dead

February 14, 2012

The Hill reports that nearly 2 million dead Americans are still on active voter registries, and 1 in every 8 registrations in the United States is invalid or has major inaccuracies, according to research released Tuesday by the Pew Center. Other problems plague voter rolls, as well:

Research released Tuesday by the Pew Center on the States shows that the country is spending more on voter registration while getting worse results than other nations such as Canada. The study points to antiquated systems that don’t reflect modern technology and fail to address the biggest obstacles to maintaining accurate, up-to-date voter-registry databases.

Almost 3 million Americans are actively registered to vote in multiple states, while about 12 million have old or error-ridden addresses listed on their registrations, likely preventing voting-related mail from reaching them. And 1 in 4 eligible citizens — 51 million in total — aren’t registered to vote. [...]

The problems aren’t for lack of financial investment: The United States spends 12 times as much to maintain voter lists as its neighbor to the north.

Published under: Federal Bureaucracy