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Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program

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The Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program[1] is one of several projects that have been conceived in various states within the [United States of America] to ensure the use of prevent voter fraud through voter registration rolls. It isthus similar in stated purpose to the [Electronic Registration Information Center] (ERIC) program. All such programs are currently expected to conform to the guidelines set by the federal [National Voter Registration Act] of 1993[2][1].

Origins, Stated Purpose, and History

The Interstate Crosscheck Program was an initiative started by the office of [Kansas] Secretary of State [Kris Kobach] in December 2005. The stated intention of the program was to create a database of data on registered voters to prevent voter fraud in the interests of election security. Kobach and the secretaries of three other states ([Iowa], [Missouri], and [Nebraska]) signed the original Memorandum of Understanding to participate in the program, which was put into practice in 2006. By 2013, 22 states were participating in the program, which remained under the administration of the office of the Kansas Secretary of State. [3]. By May 2016, the program had grown to 30 participating states. The program uses its shared database in an attempt to prevent any individual voter from registering to vote in more than one state[2].

Discrimination Controversy

Numerous claimants have accused the program of being used for discrimination targeting ethnic minorities. The program raised controversial objections from its inception due to the fact Kobach, as Chair of the Republican Party in Kansas, had supported [voter caging] considered similarly discriminatory and found to be illegal in United States Student Association Foundation v. Land [4] [5]. After examining voter fraud suspect lists from some of the participating states (Virginia, Virginia, Washington), investigative reporter [Greg Palast] claimed the Crosscheck system "disproportionately threatens solid Democratic constituencies: young, black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters" with the intention of securing Republic victories. Palast concluded this was achieved by eliminating discrete individuals based on nothing more than similarity of name, a method with a "built-in racial bias" that especially eliminated voters from targeted minorities with a more limited pool of given names, for example, Hispanic voters named Jose Garcia[6]. According to "Health of State Democracies", "50 percent of Communities of Color share a common surname, while only 30 percent of white people do" so that in the Program's flagged lists "white voters are underrepresented by 8 percent, African Americans are overrepresented by 45 percent; Hispanic voters are overrepresented by 24 percent; and Asian voters are overrepresented by 31 percent" [7].

The controversy over Insterstate Crosscheck is part of a larger, ongoing controversy over whether or not such voter registration programs are discriminatory in nature or a valid means of protecting against fraud. Election officials from some participating states ([Washington], [Colorado]) using both Interstate Crosscheck and ERIC found the latter to be "more reliable" and less outdated in its data but so far lacking the former's ability to identify "double voters across states" [8]. Despite overseven million "potential double voters" being "flagged" by the Crosscheck program in 2014, less than four people were charge, and not a single flagging led to a conviction, casting doubt on the system's reliability[9][4] .

References

  1. ^ a b [1]
  2. ^ a b [2]
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ a b [4]
  5. ^ [5]
  6. ^ [6]
  7. ^ [7]
  8. ^ [8]
  9. ^ [9]

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References


  • Bryant B. "Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program". National Association of State Election Directors. 26 January 2013. [10]
  • Bryant, B.; Curtis, K. (eds.) "Interstate Crosscheck Program Grows". Canvassin Kansas. December 2013. [11]
  • Harmon, L.; Posner, C.; Jawando, M.; Dhaiti, M. "Participation in the Interstate Crosscheck System." The Health of State Democracies. July 2015. [12]
  • Mahoney, E; Davis, H.;and Miller, J. "America Scrubs Millions from the Voter Rolls. Is It Fair?" The Center for Public Integrity. 22 August 2016. [13]
  • Palast, G. "The GOP's Stealth War Against Voters." Rolling Stone. 24 August 2016. [14]
  • Sturgis, S. "Controversial Anti-Voter Fraud Program Risks Disenfranchising Voters Through Racial Bias, Report Finds". Facing South: A Voice for the Changing South. 2 September 2016. [15]
  • "United States Student Foundation v. Land - Order. ACLU. 29 Jan 2009. [16]
  • "Voter List Accuracy". National Conference of State Legislature. 16 June 2016. [17]
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