Duplicate Voter Registrations May Total 354K In Virginia: Data

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Preliminary data released earlier this month to officials and obtained by Patch on May 31 shows potentially 354,452 Virginia voters registered in 27 other states. 28 states including Virginia are participating in the Interstate Crosscheck in an effort to get states comparing registration lists to eliminate duplicate registrations and dampen potential voter fraud. The project was spearheaded about 12 years ago by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

The project matches names and birth dates to determine potential duplicate registrations. The states contributing the highest duplicate registrations to Virginia were North Carolina with 74,452 and Georgia with 49,697. Maryland did not participate in the project.

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The number is significant for Virginia with a primary election coming up on June 13, but this number doesn't tell the whole story.

According to the Interstate Crosscheck data, none of the Virginia registrations had invalid dates of birth or duplicate voter identification numbers. But there were 31 invalid last four digits of Social Security numbers.

Edgardo Cortés, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, told Patch that matching names and dates of birth could be shared between different people. "You'd be very surprised at how many people have the same name and the same date of birth," he said.

Cortés said the department has taken the interstate data and factored in Social Security numbers and other data points. With that, the duplicate registrations drop to about 96,000. And of those, 38,000 are active voters.

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When registering to vote in Virginia, voters can fill provide registration information from previous states. Cortés said the department sends this data monthly to other states where Virginia voters are registered. Voters can check with each state's election agency to see if they're still registered.

"It'd be the prior state's responsibility ultimately to remove you," he said.

If Virginia receives data indicating a person moved out of state, the department sends out mailers to the person. If there is no reply, the voter is moved to an inactive status.

The Interstate Crosscheck shows more than 7.2 million voters in the 28 states with the same first and last name as well as birth date. That means the number of potential duplicate registrations is higher, as 22 states do not participate in the data sharing project.

Kobach came into the national spotlight after imposing one of the toughest laws on voter eligibility in the county as Kansas Secretary of State. Kobach, along with Vice President Mike Pence, will be leading the newly created Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.

Patch editor Tony Schinella in New Hampshire contributed to this report.

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