Program works to ID voters who have moved

The Secretary of State’s Elections division is asking upwards of $53,000 to continue and expand participation in a multi-state program seeking to identify people registered to vote in more than one jurisdiction.

Elections Deputy Scott Gilles said the Electiion Registration Center program has about 12 states involved and uses voter registration and DMV records to find people who may have moved from one place to another without remembering to change or update their voter registration.

“When people move, they go talk with DMV but they don’t necessarily talk with voter registration,” he said.

He said the program has “cleaned up” a significant number of records. Those who appear to have moved — according to DMV — but who haven’t updated their voter registration get a card in the mail asking them which jurisdiction they are actually living in and, if needed, to reregister to vote.

He said as an example, someone may move from another state to Reno or from Las Vegas to Reno. That won’t show in voter rolls until they reregister to vote in their new home but Gilles said it will show in DMV records.

Beyond that, he said the program helps identify people who may be eligible to register to vote but haven’t done so.

Those people, he said, get a card in the mail before each general election telling them they appear to be eligible and should consider registering to vote.

The funding pays Nevada’s share of the multi-state program and for mailing costs for the notification cards.