Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Indiana counties purging inactive voters from rolls

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - Indiana counties acting under a directive from the state have purged their voter registration rolls of people who are inactive and have not cast ballots since 2014.

The Indiana Election Commission set a March 10 deadline for counties to remove inactive voters, and several reduced their rolls by at least 10 percent, the (Terre Haute) Tribune Star reported Saturday.

Parke County got rid of 2,188 registered voters, or 19.6 percent of its total. County Clerk Stacie Jeffries said she missed the state’s deadline by a week but got the job done. A Republican Party caucus appointed her to the post after the previous clerk left office Jan. 18.

“I am just glad it is not an election year,” Jeffries said.

Vermillion County dropped 1,183 voters, or 13.2 percent of its registration list. Since the purge, it has added 246 more voters.

“We register people to vote every day,” Vermillion County Clerk Amy Griffin said.

Vigo County removed 7,960 voters, or 10.5 percent of its registration role. With five colleges and universities - Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Ivy Tech Community College, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and Harrison College - a portion of its electorate moves away after finishing studies.

College towns are often “where people move in and people move on,” said Robert Lawson Jr., co-director of the Vigo County Voter Registration department.

Some “people vote one time and never vote again after registering and move away, but never remove their name from the poll list,” Lawson said.

The General Assembly adopted the mandatory voter roll purges in 2014, two years after two voter watchdog groups, Judicial Watch and True The Vote, sued Indiana, claiming the state failed to maintain clean voter registration lists.

 

 

Posted 4/17/2017

 
 
 
 

 

 

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