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State settles lawsuit on dead voter purge
AAS 10/3/12
State settles lawsuit on dead voter purge
Texas voters can no longer be removed from voting rolls based on incomplete government records that indicate they may be dead, according to a legal settlement reached Wednesday afternoon.
The settlement ends a lawsuit by four living voters who were told that their voter registrations would be canceled if they did not prove within 30 days that they are alive.
The legal fight revolved around rules, recently adopted by Secretary of State Hope Andrade, that directed county voting registrars to send letters asking about 80,000 voters to verify that they are alive. About 68,000 of the letters, however, were based on what Andrade called “weak matches” — targeting voters whose birth date and last four digits of their Social Security number match federal death records, or those whose complete Social Security number and birth date match death records, but whose names did not.
State settles lawsuit on dead voter purge
Texas voters can no longer be removed from voting rolls based on incomplete government records that indicate they may be dead, according to a legal settlement reached Wednesday afternoon.
The settlement ends a lawsuit by four living voters who were told that their voter registrations would be canceled if they did not prove within 30 days that they are alive.
The legal fight revolved around rules, recently adopted by Secretary of State Hope Andrade, that directed county voting registrars to send letters asking about 80,000 voters to verify that they are alive. About 68,000 of the letters, however, were based on what Andrade called “weak matches” — targeting voters whose birth date and last four digits of their Social Security number match federal death records, or those whose complete Social Security number and birth date match death records, but whose names did not.
Imagine that! A republican SoS agreeing that weak matches of dead people's names is not a good rule. Kudos to lawyer David Richards and his 4 clients who took on the State and won!
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Houston Chronicle 10/2/12
'Dead' voter controversy raises even more concern
Voters in traditionally African-American neighborhoods were disproportionately affected when Harris County officials notified 9,000 people their registrations could be cancelled unless they proved they were not deceased, according to a Chronicle analysis of data obtained from the Texas Secretary of State.
Already, 32 percent of voters who received "Are you dead?" letters across the county in September - just six weeks before the presidential elections - have confirmed they are very much alive, election officials said this week. Because of widespread complaints, no county voters will be purged before the November elections unless their deaths are independently confirmed, according to Don Sumners, the county's tax assessor collector and voter registrar.
The Chronicle's analysis showed that voters living in black districts - specifically created by lawmakers to enhance political representation of blacks on the county commission and the Texas Legislature - received more letters than voters in other districts. Nearly 2,900 live in Harris County Commissioner's Precinct 1 - a minority op portunity district created more than two decades ago that includes most of the county's historically black neighborhoods.
'Dead' voter controversy raises even more concern
Voters in traditionally African-American neighborhoods were disproportionately affected when Harris County officials notified 9,000 people their registrations could be cancelled unless they proved they were not deceased, according to a Chronicle analysis of data obtained from the Texas Secretary of State.
Already, 32 percent of voters who received "Are you dead?" letters across the county in September - just six weeks before the presidential elections - have confirmed they are very much alive, election officials said this week. Because of widespread complaints, no county voters will be purged before the November elections unless their deaths are independently confirmed, according to Don Sumners, the county's tax assessor collector and voter registrar.
The Chronicle's analysis showed that voters living in black districts - specifically created by lawmakers to enhance political representation of blacks on the county commission and the Texas Legislature - received more letters than voters in other districts. Nearly 2,900 live in Harris County Commissioner's Precinct 1 - a minority op portunity district created more than two decades ago that includes most of the county's historically black neighborhoods.
Remember it was the Houston Republican TAC who refused to follow the SoS purge rules too. Just goes to show you how wrong Hope Andrade was.
They early vote!
But no I know what you mean. 
