A majority of the board of commissioners, Chairman Vincent Zapotosky and Vincent Vicites, authorized the procedure to begin the voter registration review back in early May. Only one commissioners' meeting has followed since, with the next meeting (June 26 at the Public Service Building at 10 a.m.), one in which commissioners must actually authorize mailings to go out.
Should they do so, the next step will be carefully followed according to federal and state law.
Some 15,000 voters names on the rolls as the low end of those considered for potential removal is no small amount, and the high end, 25,000 evidences the absolute need for the review.
That the board of commissioners and the election bureau are using caution deserves a nod to carrying out a constitutional duty, with care.
The commissioners also can't use a near or more than $30,000 price tag to the effort since there is a county budget surplus, likely in the range of $500,000 if information from a Special Meeting in early June to discuss the less-than-expected amount of such hold accurate.
Net the Truth Online
The Tribune Review:
Dormant Fayette voters may be purged
By Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Fayette County Election Bureau has identified as many as 25,000 registered voters who have not cast ballots in at least five years, putting them at risk of having their names purged from voter rolls.
Laurie Lint, election bureau director, said Tuesday a check of voter registrations turned up between 15,000 and 25,000 people who have not voted in the past five years. Lint conducted the review as the first step in a countywide purge of voter rolls...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/fayette/s_574442.html
Dormant Fayette voters may be purged
By Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
County commissioners on Thursday will vote on authorization of the next step, which is to mail out notices to each of the inactive voters. Voters who want to remain on the rolls will be asked to return the notices in postage-paid envelopes to be provided by the county.
Voters who don't respond can still vote in November, should they go to the polls, Lint said.
Inactive voters who fail to respond to the notices, and then subsequently do not vote in November, will have their names purged from the county's voter rolls...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/fayette/s_574442.html
Dormant Fayette voters may be purged
By Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The county last purged its voter rolls in 1995, when the Motor Voter Law was enacted. Prior to 1995, the county purged its voter database every year, removing the names of voters who did not go to the polls in four consecutive elections, Lint said.
Lint said she used data provided by the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, or SURE, to identify voters who have not cast ballots in the past five years. The SURE system notifies each of the state's 67 election bureaus when voters die, move or register in another county.
There are 89,536 registered voters in Fayette County, including 61,887 Democrats and 21,449 Republicans, according to Lint. Voter turnout in the primary election was 42 percent.
Cost for the mailings will be approximately $20,000, Lint said, including $6,500 in postage to send out the notices using the standard bulk rate of 26 cents per mailing. Another $10,500 will be spent on postage for the return envelopes, Lint said, because they are ineligible for the bulk rate.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/fayette/s_574442.html
Herald-Standard
Precinct consolidation plan stalled
By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
06/25/2008
Lint also told the commissioners she has plans to send out 25,000 notices to voters as part of a voter purge program prior to the November election. She said the biggest obstacle is having a postage-paid envelope and a bulk rate must be reinstated for the county. Lint said the cost of reinstating the bulk rate would cost $180, but if that were done, it would save $3,000 overall.
Lint said the purge is estimated to cost about $20,000, which includes sending letters that can be sent back in. She said if people vote in the next election they will remain on the rolls, and if they don't respond and don't vote, they would be purged.
The commissioners took no action on the request, but Lint said in response to a question from Vicites that the vote could be taken at next month's meeting to initiate the purge.
http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19801026&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=480247&rfi=6
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