Politics & Government

Nearly 95K Voters In NH Registered In Other States: Data

Preliminary cross state voter info shows 7.2 million duplicate registrations in 28 states; 40K voters are registered in both Mass. and NH.

CONCORD, NH — Officials in 28 states are eyeing voter registration information that purports to show millions of people registered to vote in more than one state, according to preliminary information being released to media outlets. The project – Interstate Crosscheck – was spearheaded about 12 years ago by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, in an effort to get states comparing registration lists in order to eliminate duplicate registrations and dampen potential voter fraud. Kobach, along with Vice President Mike Pence, will be leading the newly created Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner will also be participating in that commission.

The state of New Hampshire approved of a bill earlier this year to have the Gardner's office share the state’s most recent voter’s list with the org and have it crosschecked with other states.

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The preliminary data that was released earlier this month to officials and obtained by Patch on May 31, 2017, shows more than 7.2 million voters in the 28 states with the same first and last name as well as birth date.

In New Hampshire, the data shows 94,610 duplicate voters also registered in 27 other states. Just less than half – 40,364 voters – are registered in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In both Maine and New Hampshire, 13,370 duplicate names with the same birthdates were found, according to the data.

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Of the other 25 states, anywhere from 274 – in Nebraska – and 5,463 – in North Carolina – were found to be also registered in the Granite State.

Gardner said on Wednesday that he was familiar with the 94,610 duplicate voters figure but had not seen the chart or the other data showing the comparisons between the states. He said the 28 states are now working with each other to ensure that the multiple registrations were the same people and that those people who are registered in multiple places aren’t allowed to vote twice.

“We are going to get there,” he said, “we’re gradually bringing the number down.”

According to the data, more than 991,000 voters were registered in New Hampshire at the time of the submission earlier this year. More than 98.2 million people are registered to vote in the 28 states participating.

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