Secretary of State Wes Allen said recently that his office has identified over 109,000 ineligible voters from Alabama's rolls since creating a new voter integrity system.
Allen recently presided over a successful Super Tuesday primary election where voters made picks on several key state and federal races.
Allen made headlines after taking office in January 2023 by removing the state from the controversial voter roll tracking system ERIC. He's since been working to implement a better "Alabama-based" solution: one voters can be confident is free of corruption and outside control.
Allen and his team developed the Alabama Voter Integrity Database (AVID) to replace ERIC.
In a recent appearance on Montgomery radio NewsTalk 93.1's "News & Views," Allen gave his thoughts on the primary election and the positive effects AVID has had on voter rolls.
"It's been really good," Allen said. "We've identified over 109,000 voters that have moved out of state, so we've been working those lists really hard. One of the things that people don't realize, though, is that the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 that Congress passed prohibits states, within 90 days of an election, to work your voter file maintenance. So you can't remove anybody."
He continued, "So December 5 [2023], we quit working those those lists that we've identified. So, after the primary runoff, we'll get back to work in preparation for the November election."
Through AVID, Allen's office works with ALEA to identify registered voters in Alabama who have moved and obtained a driver's license or non-driver ID in another state.
In September 2023, when he unveiled the new system, Allen's office had identified more than 30,000 active registered voters who had notified the United States Postal Service that they had relocated to an address outside of Alabama.
Allen also recently went to Washington D.C. at the invitation of U.S. Sen. Katie Britt to testify on what Alabama has done to "strengthen our elections process," as well as petition for changes that could positively affect individual states' voter rolls.
Allen recommended to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee that federal law cut the timeframe for removing individuals from state voter files from four years to two. He also suggested allowing states to access the Social Security Administration's national death index to clean up voter files further.
"You're maintaining right now a bloated system," Allen continued. "Because it takes four years to remove someone if they've moved. We've got to send out postcards saying, 'Hey. If you've moved, please remove yourself. If you're not, please correct us.' So, we have to jump through so many things to make sure we keep it clean, but maintaining a bloated voter file is not good."
"We saw some identity theft in North Alabama where some illegal immigrants stole identities, and they were indicted and arrested, and that's since I've been elected," He continued.
Allen also praised the recent legislation banning ballot harvesting, which was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey last week, saying the legislation "protects the absentee ballot system."
See: Ivey signs ballot harvesting ban into law: 'There will be no funny business in Alabama elections'
"This is something that I introduced in 2022 when I was still in the House to deal with what we call ballot harvesting in the absentee process," Allen continued. "So it's not something that we just kind of came up with; it's something that I've been working on for a long time, election integrity."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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